全息创业公司Envisics与松下合作，快速追踪汽车AR技术

Envisics的创始人兼首席执行官杰米森•圣诞博士（Dr.Jamieson Christmas）三年前启动了这家初创公司，用其全息技术“彻底改变”车内体验。现在，它有了一个伙伴，可以帮助它实现这一使命。

总部位于英国的全息技术启动部星期五表示，它与松下汽车系统达成协议，共同开发和商业化新一代汽车、卡车和越野车的平视显示器。松下汽车系统是一级汽车供应商和北美松下公司的一个部门。抬头显示器是集成在车辆仪表板上的装置，它将图像投射到挡风玻璃上，以帮助驾驶员导航并提供其他警报。松下的HUD，通常被称为，将使用Envisics全息技术。

这项交易是在虚拟的2021 CES技术贸易展之前宣布的，此前Envisics已获得5000万美元的B轮融资，并有消息称其技术将集成到即将上市的凯迪拉克Lyriq电动车中。这轮融资为Envisics带来了超过2.5亿美元的估值，其中包括现代摩比斯（Hyundai Mobis）、通用风投（GM Ventures）、上汽风投（SAIC Ventures）和凡客诚品（Van Tuyl）公司的投资。

EnVistes的技术，它的基础是在15多年前的剑桥大学的圣诞节博士研究中，用电子方式控制光的速度。圣诞老人在最近的一次采访中解释说，这一过程使图像显得立体。该公司已获得250多项专利，另有160项正在申请认证。

Christmas表示，该公司专注于全息照相技术在汽车上的应用，并补充称，其第一代全息照相技术已经集成在超过15万辆捷豹路虎汽车上。

Christmas表示，这项新协议旨在将松下在光学设计方面的专业知识及其作为一级供应商的全球影响力与Envisics的技术结合起来，使全息技术成为主流。据这些公司称，使用其技术的汽车量产计划在2023年进行。

“这在很大程度上是我们商业计划的一部分，你知道我们进行的B轮融资是为了扩大业务规模，使我们能够在进入市场时继续前进，”Christmas说。“其中一部分是承诺与一级供应商建立合作关系，然后我们可以与之合作，将这些产品推向市场。

“这是这些协议中的第一个，”他补充说，这表明Envisics有一个更大的目标。

这意味着，圣诞说，将是高分辨率，宽色域和大图像，可以覆盖在现实的平视显示器。这项技术还可以同时在多个距离投射信息。

“这确实开启了非常有趣的应用程序，”他说。“短期内，这将是一种相对简单的增强现实应用，比如导航，突出你应该在的车道和一些安全应用。但当你展望像自动驾驶这样的事情时，它打开了娱乐和视频会议等其他机会的整个领域。”

他补充说，它甚至可以用于夜视应用，例如在黑暗的道路上叠加增强信息，以明确道路的走向和可能存在的障碍。

原文：Envisics  founder and CEO Dr. Jamieson Christmas launched the startup three years ago to “revolutionize” the in-car experience with its holographic technology. Now, it has a partner that could help it achieve that mission.

The U.K.-based holographic technology startup said Friday it reached an agreement with Panasonic  Automotive Systems to jointly develop and commercialize a new generation of head-up displays for cars, trucks and SUVs. Panasonic Automotive Systems is a Tier 1 automotive supplier and a division of Panasonic Corporation of North America. The head-up displays are units integrated in the dash of a vehicle that project images onto the windshield to aid drivers with navigation and provide other alerts. The Panasonic HUDs, as they’re often called, will use Envisics holographic technology.

The deal, announced ahead of the virtual 2021 CES  tech trade show, follows Envisics’ $50 million Series B funding round and news that its tech will be integrated in the upcoming Cadillac  Lyriq electric vehicle. The funding round, which brought Envisics a valuation of more than $250 million, included investments from Hyundai Mobis, GM Ventures, SAIC Ventures and Van Tuyl Companies.

Envisics’ technology, the foundation of which came out of Christmas’ PhD studies at Cambridge University more than 15 years ago, electronically manipulates the speed of light. This process enables images to appear three-dimensional, Christmas explained in a recent interview. The company has secured more than 250 patents and has another 160 pending certification.

The company is solely focused upon the automotive application of holography, Christmas said, adding that its first generation is already integrated in more than 150,000 Jaguar Land Rover vehicles.

Christmas said this new agreement aims to combine Panasonic’s expertise in optical design and its global reach as a Tier 1 supplier with Envisics’ technology to bring holography into the mainstream. Mass production of vehicles using its technology is slated for 2023, according to the companies.

“This is very much about part of our business plan, you know the Series B funding round we undertook was about scaling the business and enabling us to move forward as we enter the market,” Christmas said. “Part of that was a commitment to engage in partnerships with Tier ones that we can then work with to deliver these products to market.

“This is the first of those agreements,” he added, suggesting that Envisics has a much larger aim.

What that means, Christmas said, will be head-up displays with high resolution, wide color gamut and large images that can be overlaid upon reality. The technology can also project information at multiple distances simultaneously.

“That really unlocks very interesting applications,” he said. “In the short term, it will be kind of relatively simple augmented reality applications like navigation, highlighting the lane you’re supposed to be in and some safety applications. But as you look forward into things like autonomous driving it unlocks a whole realm of other opportunities like entertainment and video conferencing.”

He added that it could even be used for night vision applications such as overlaying enhanced information upon a dark road to make it clear where the road is going and what obstacles might be out there.