DIY Heads-Up Display Helps Keep Your Eyes on the Road
If a HUD is what your car's lacking, time for a little bit of hacking!
Years ago, maker “Va_Tech_EE” got a chance to drive a C6 Corvette with a heads-up display, or HUD. This kind of display, which is fairly common in today's cars, projects data and navigational information directly in your view — and according to him, makes things much more enjoyable behind the wheel. Now, he’s been able to add a HUD assembly to his own vehicle.
The setup uses a stock ELM327 Bluetooth OBDII diagnostic scanner to pull speed and RPM values, and send them to the dashboard unit. Data is received through an ESP32-DevKitC module and passed to a Teensy 3.5 via a custom PCB. The Teensy then takes care of showing the readings on a 7-segment display, along with a gauge made from a linear array. After all that, light is transmitted from upward-facing LEDs onto a piece of reflective and see-through plexiglass material, allowing Va_Tech_EE to see his stats without ever taking his eyes off of the road.
Aside from that, the HUD’s Teensy 3.5 can log data on an SD card, letting him see how fast or efficiently he’s driving — depending on his goals for the day. Gerber files for the design’s custom PCB are available in the project write-up and code can be found on GitHub.
