The Russian startup Hudway has exceeded its $100,000 funding target in less than 24 hours in a Kickstarter campaign for its latest head-up display (HUD).
On August 30, just two days after the campaign launch, the startup had already raised nearly $195,000 from more than 900 backers.
Hudway is setting up mass production of HUDWAY Cast, a portable head-up display that allows you to see your directions in your line of sight, as well as to receive calls, texts and control your music in a safer and easier way.
HUDWAY Cast works wirelessly with any iOS or Android mobile device, which acts as a quick-access control panel.
“The image from HUDWAY Cast display is taken to a lens which enlarges it to 20 inches and focuses the virtual image about 9 feet or 2.8 meters in front of you. This way, it feels easier for your eyes to readjust focus from the road to the projection,” the startup wrote on their Kickstarter page.
HUDs are already used in the automotive industry, but mostly as a premium built-in option only a few can afford. As a consequence, many drivers continue using their smartphone for navigation, which is both forbidden and dangerous.
Hudway presents its “affordable and universal device” as “a safer way to use a smartphone behind the wheel,” which could “change everyone’s driving habits for the better.”
Russo-Chinese cooperations
Created in 2013, Hudway is a resident company of Skolkovo, the international tech hub under completion on the outskirts of Moscow.
In 2015, the company launched HUDWAY Glass, an accessory that reflects the smartphone screen image on a lens to transform the phone into an HUD. The production of device was also generously supported by Kickstarter backers. The company claims to have since sold more than 40,000 HUDWAY Glass devices.
HUDWAY Cast, its new product, is “a way more sophisticated and ambitious project,” the company says. The device has been designed in partnership with the Chinese HUD maker Carrobot.
Another startup with Russian roots, Wayray, has also developed a head-up display for drivers, which it presents as “the first holographic car navigation system.” Now headquartered in Switzerland, WayRay recently attracted $18 million in a Series B round led by Chinese Alibaba and other undisclosed investors.
