Personal Navi: Benefits of an Augmented Reality Navigational Aid Using a See-Thru 3D Volumetric HUD

Augmented reality (AR) is an interface that can potentially provide more intuitive and immersive experiences, particularly for automotive applications. In this paper we present the Personal Navi, a vehicular AR navigational aid designed for use with a see-thru 3D volumetric Head Up Display (HUD). In one study, we found that the Personal Navi visuals helped participants recognize turn locations earlier than when provided with conventional navigation aids alone. The interface also helped keep users' eyes up and fixated on the driving environment more. In a second study, we tested participants' depth perception of AR visuals provided with our prototype 3D-HUD. We displayed the same visuals with a fixed focal depth display (2D-HUD) and found that for applications such as Personal Navi, where the spatial location of AR visuals are an important component of the interface, a dynamically adjustable focal plane (3D-HUD) is necessary for proper registration. We argue that AR-based HUD navigational aids should be implemented only with 3D-HUDs because of inferior depth perception with 2D-HUDs.