HUDWAY BLOG

We at HUDWAY focus on solutions that serve the same goal: to minimize distraction from a smartphone while driving and thus contribute to driving safety. 

No wonder, we immediately leapt at the opportunity to add CarPlay support!  

Now, let’s see how it works. 

CarPlay is available on select cars only. So first, make sure yours is among them. There should be CarPlay logo on your car display interface, or a Voice Assistant button on the steering wheel.

Connecting to Carplay

Apple provides detailed instructions on how to set up your iPhone with CarPlay, highlighting that iPhone can be connected wirelessly or using a cable.  

We recommend that you opt for a wired connection when you’re using a navigation app. Please make sure that the cable is Apple’s original — otherwise the quality of the audio transmitted may be inferior. 

After you have connected your iPhone to Carplay, you’ll see its Home Screen with the list of compatible apps, HUDWAY Go among them. 

You can launch HUDWAY Go either on your iPhone, or on CarPlay. The screens will work in parallel, so that in fact you can lock your iPhone and control the app on CarPlay exclusively.

Address search and routes

On the right, there are map controls: you can drag and zoom the map, or quickly refocus to the current location. 

Tap Search and select the option that suits you. 

If you have previous search history with HUDWAY Go on your iPhone, it will be available on CarPlay, too. 

Supposing, you need to get to LAX airport from LA downtown. Select Categories and then Airports. 

The app will show you all the airports nearby. Select the needed airport to have the route created. 

If the needed destination doesn’t appear in the list (in this case, the list of airports nearby), go back to Search screen and select to enter address. Then enter your destination — for example, Los Angeles airport, or just its official code, LAX. 

Then tap the destination found to create a route. 

The route will be accessible both on your iPhone, and on CarPlay. Route duration and distance, ETA, as well as estimated fuel consumption and cost will also be displayed. 

When alternative routes are available, select Alternatives and then switch between suggested routes to view their details:

Driving and trip statistics

Once you have decided on which route you’ll take, tap the green Let’s go button. The app will start downloading the maps and getting them ready. 

When you’ve started driving with HUDWAY Go, you can follow the route both on your iPhone, and on CarPlay, but a 3D high-contrast route view will be displayed on CarPlay, whereas on your iPhone you will see a detailed map and trip info:

All other screens for CarPlay are made фccordingly to Apple’s requirements to CarPlay-supporting apps. However, we split the way information is displayed on smartphone and CarPlay during the ride, because our specially designed 3D route UI is easier and quicker to grasp than a detailed map. Therefore, the driver is focused on the most important things only and will spend less time diverting their eyes off the road. 

A few other tips

During the trip, you can tap the car display to see the trip menu where you can finish the trip or enable disable voice hints. 

After you finish the trip, the app will show you the trip statistics — on your smartphone. 

Then you can also start a new trip, or drive in FreeRide mode where you don’t need to set a destination, but will see nearby roads and street names. 

Hope you’ll love using HUDWAY Go on CarPlay :) We welcome your feedback at [email protected]. PS. Here are the links to download the app for your iPhone or Android device.

HUDWAY Sight was born from the need for enhanced safety and convenience on the road, enhanced road viewing and GPS. Some smart helmets with enhanced road viewing and GPS address this but can be clunky and expensive.

“ We designed HUDWAY Sight to enhance safety on the road for cyclists and motorcyclists, who are extra vulnerable. With this add-on, literally any helmet becomes a smart AR machine, providing enhanced understand of the road and bringing tools like GPS directly into a riders’ line of view”.

- Ivan Klabukov, HUDWAY CEO and co-founder

The kit has been designed with tons of features to round out the on-road experience, including voice control, ambient light sensor for automatic brightness adjustment and ambient light display. The lens displays full-color and in-focus images in all conditions, rain or shine. The kit also syncs wirelessly to smartphones via the HUD app, turning it into a control panel for navigation apps, vehicle data, a music library, and calls.

HUDWAY Sight is comprised of three major components: a lens with a universal mount that attaches to virtually any helmet, a “brain” that mounts on the back of the helmet to transmit info to the lens, and a battery that gives the entire kit up to five hours of autonomous operation. The kit can be expanded to integrate with Bluetooth, or include a distance meter, AR set, a rearview camera, or a night vision camera.

HUDWAY Sight is using a waveguide display developed by DigiLens, a Silicon Valley company who supplies technologies to many high tech and automotive companies. Mass production will be handled by Young Optics, a company that excels at production of sophisticated optical components, based in Taiwan.

HUDWAY Sight’s expected delivery date is Q2 2019. For a full rundown of pledges, visit our Kickstarter page.

View press release on HUDWAY Sight launch.

Here's how it works:

1. Launch HUDWAY Cast.

2. Press the mode button until you see the Android icon and the following text on the lens: Device with no Miracast support (use wire to connect): 

3. Connect HUDWAY Cast to your phone using the enclosed OTG cable.

4. Launch HUDWAY Cast app.

5. Your phone will ask you for a permission to connect to adevice via USB. Please grant this permission:

6. The phone will then prompt you to enable screen capture*. Please grant this permission to enable casting to the lens.

*This is only needed to transmit the contents of your phone screen to HUDWAY Cast lens and is not stored anywhere or available for anyone to view.

7. Go to the Dashboard section in the app and select the widget you want to be cast to the lens by tapping Cast to HUD button in the upper right corner:

Selected widget will now be cast to the lens.

Tip: You can also minimize HUDWAY Cast app, and launch any navigation app of your choice (like Waze or Gooogle Maps) — this way, HUDWAY Cast app will operate as a casting tool whereas the navigation app will be mirrored to the HUDWAY Cast lens.

Please note that this solution is recommended for the smartphones running Android 7.0 and later with RAM 2 Gb and more. Lower RAM characteristics may prevent casting to work properly.

Thanks for reading and feel free to reach out with any feedback.

It’s a view that could fundamentally change how we interface with our cars and our surroundings while we drive.

Instead of a traditional dashboard, HUD enables more intelligent displays by featuring the information a driver needs at just the right time and in just the right place. This could be straightforward information such as speed, navigation, warnings and backup camera displays, or things like collision warnings and lane detection. With HUD, this all happens without requiring the driver to take their eyes off the road. Instead, everything appears to float at just the right distance on the windshield.

The prices for HUD systems largely vary. While the least expensive aftermarket HUDs display the car data on the windshield without any additional features, such as navigation information or voice controls, the more expensive HUDs include all these and, eventually, some advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) features.

These HUDs are likely to gain interest among buyers who like the flexibility and adaptability of active head-up devices that mirror the smartphone activity, thus allow for safe, non-distracted driving, while being able to stay connected to the outside world.

We’ve compiled a list of some of the most compelling aftermarket HUDs to look for next time you are in the market for a new display.

Things to know before you choose your HUD:

There are two types of aftermarket HUDs for cars: projections and screens. The HUDs that utilize their own screen are generally superior.

The best HUDs connect to your smartphone and allow you to use 3rd-party driving apps.

Different vehicles have different readout systems, which measure the vehicle’s performance. These readouts are OBD, OBD II, EOBD (for European standards), and JOBD (for Japanese standards). Your HUD and your vehicle readout have to be compatible.

Budget category: $10-50

There are many cheap head-up displays (most are made in China and many times are not patented) available online today, such as Red Shield Universal HUD, BZseed, HaloVA, Frerush, Techstick or Dewhel. You can easily buy one for about $10 on Amazon. They are either sold as a clear film attaching to your windshield or as a passive device with a reflective panel and a friction pad, where you place your smartphone.

Photo: Techstick M9 OBD2 Car HUD with reflection (Credit: Techstick)

Even though most manufacturers in this category claim that their HUDs are superior and the displays reflect image very clearly even in poor lighting condition or bright sunlight, it’s usually not true.

Most modern windshields use a type of polarized glass that makes the image split into two and in daytime the image would seem dim, fuzzy and, in direct sun, may disappear altogether. Another obvious limitation of these HUDs is the preset display, which means the visual gauges are grossly simplified. You are only able to view the information in the form of numbers or arrows.

Though some of these brands came to the aftermarket a while ago, like Techstick, for example, most come to the market and soon disappear (think of an interrupted customer service or warranty problems).

Personally, we don’t recommend buying a device from the budget category. You might be better off placing your smartphone on the dashboard and using a mirroring app instead of spending money on a plastic case with a low-quality film. For those who’d like to actually save money by buying a better longer-lasting device, we recommend the second or third category.

Mid-Tier Category: $50-150

Patented HUDs in this category have more features than the budget devices, use a dedicated screen (either a transparent film or a glass), have better reflection visibility, and a higher-quality hardware. They usually provide turn-by-turn navigation directions, posted speed limit, location of speed cameras and many other informational perks. The units are often paired with a compatible smartphone (Bluetooth or Wi-Fi).

Notable winners in this category, even though polar in their pricing, are Garmin HUD ($149) and HUDWAY Glass ($49).

Photo: Garmin HUD (Credit: Amazon)

Garmin can project the information from a smartphone onto a transparent film on your windshield or an attached reflector lens. Glass is a head-up mount that uses your smartphone for all driving data.

The constraints of mid-tier HUDs usually are a limited 3rd-party app compatibility and a use of proprietary apps. Also often the navigation app remains at the foreground of your phone while in use, so if you receive a phone call or check a text message, you will lose your driving directions. Also, in Garmin’s case, its preset display offers somewhat limited (unlike HUDs in the next category) virtual gauges.

Even though HUDWAY Glass costs a fraction of Garmin HUD’s price, it offers more flexibility for the driver. It works with several other non-proprietary navigation apps (such as HUD Widgets, Speedometer, Sygic or Navmii GPS) and has significantly better looking virtual gauges. For an almost “budget”-priced HUD, Glass has our thumbs-up!

Best In The Aftermarket Category: $150-500

Photo: HUDWAY Cast (Credit: HUDWAY)

Head-up displays in this category are all unmatched in terms of connectivity and interactivity, have an incredibly well done hardware, and present a far greater accuracy and responsiveness than the products in the other categories.

The pricing among HUDs in this category, however, differs greatly, especially when it come to the features offered for that price.

Carloudy, for example, costs (in pre-orders) $259 and is a wireless head-up display that connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth, features transparent display and voice control, and supposedly works perfect under bright light and in evenings. Carloudy’s patent-pending design uses the reflective nature of its 6” electronic paper display (EPD) to harvest energy. However, as it good as it all sounds, the Company hasn’t yet fulfilled its promises to start manufacturing and shipping the devices.

Exploride, which costs $299 ($200 off) in pre-orders, lets you stream music, allows for gesture controls, stock market updates, email notifications and news. But it only supports applications, which are approved by Exploride. What could they be? We don’t know yet and say – pretty pricey given its limitations. Incidentally, Exploride, too, doesn’t seem to exist or be active. The infrequent updates we’ve seen have been posted in early spring and midsummer of this year.

Regardless of the media reviews and solid marketing, we do not recommend pre-ordering devices from the companies that don’t have a fall-back fullfillment history or have stopped communicating with its backers and potential customers.

Hudly, another worth-mentioning HUD device in this category, operates with similar features, as the aforementioned HUDs; the only difference is that it mounts to your windshield (not your dashboard). So it’s the matter of your personal preferences, but in our opinion, it’s definitely more distracting, if the HUD is not located in line with your eyesight. We do like that Hudly doesn’t require the use of a proprietary app. You can navigate with Google Maps, Waze, and so on. It costs $299 on the Company’s website.

Navdy has been nominated by many tech reviewers as the unquestioned champion of the aftermarket HUD arena. And even earlier this month, we would’ve nominated it as one of our favorite. However, just recently Navdy has announced its liquidation.

HUDWAY Cast is undoubtedly our “win-win” device, when it comes to its unmatched price and performance. It is the least expensive HUD in this category and provides all of the Navdy’s features for a fraction of price. Cast doesn’t require the use of a proprietary app, thus, gives you freedom to navigate with an app (WAZE, Google Maps, you name it) that you are most used to. While your smartphone works as a control panel, all of the information from your phone is displayed in line with your eyesight. Its display offers a better focus length (2.5 m versus Navdy’s 0.8 m), which allows you to refocus easier and faster. The mounting kit is included in the HUDWAY Cast’s price (currently $199).  Just like Navdy, Cast users can answer their calls, respond to texts, listen to their music library or favorite music apps (Spotify), and get directions in real time. According to the Company’s news, HUDWAY has just completed its second Kickstarter campaign, begun production, and is planning to ship the product to its September backers in December. Starting next year, we will see HUDWAY Cast on Amazon (with eligible free shipping). For now you can get your it on its website.