[FAQ] What exactly does the AR HUD do? [Augmented Reality Heads-Up Display]

[daveo4EV]

I optioned the AR HUD on my 2024 Macan EV Turbo - I'm a sucker for tech so I've would've done it even if it "wasn't" new - I'm also experience with Porsche/Audi HUDs and they are pretty standard and acceptable, but lack any WOW factor - I have the 2021 Cayenne TurboS eHybrid w/HUD - and it's a normal everyday HUD which is nice…but hardly leading edge - but still worth it IMHO cause it's fun and sometime's useful tech…

but until you've experience the new AR HUD it's very very unclear what exactly it does…I'm hoping to provide some concise features so those that come after me can make a more informed optioning decision.

it's very very hard to get a demonstration video of the HUD - because it has a narrow field of view (driver only) and you have to holding a camera while driving - so you'll have to suffice with my descriptions - apologies.

I also lack a perspective of "state of the art" for HUDs across the industry - I do not know who has the "best" HUD in any car right now - my apologies - so I'm not saying Porsche/Macan are "the best". What I can say is this is not Audi/Porsche's previous HUD tech - this is a major step forward - so if you've had Audi/Porsche HUD''s in the past - this is a new HUD with new capabilities - it does all the same stuff, and some new stuff - so it's new, fresher, and more interactive - is the best "in the industry?" I have no idea - but it's a major step forward for Audi/Porsche vs. their previous offerings.

What does it do?

• some obvious things like like current speed, posted speed limits, navigation instructions, etc…all the standard existing legacy hud stuff
• for the EV it will show you the power-meter for power vs. regen - so that's nice
• it is configurable and you can control what it shows you to a certain extent - a lot like the information tiles for the PCM - you can add/remove various pre-configured bits of information packets
• all of this is the same as previous HUD's but sets a base line of minimal HUD viability

What is AR/New about this HUD? The list below are the "new" unique/clever things I've experienced in the new AR HUD - these are things my 2021 Cayenne does not do…green items in the list below are the "AR" items - these are displays in the HUD that are "interactive" with external objects/markings outside the vehicle - non-green items are just "static" information, but not AR interactive in the HUD

• CarPlay navigation directions show up in the HUD - woot! this is new for Porsche - previously on PCM navigation was shown in the HUD
  • when using non-Porsche navigation you do not get the fancy animated "blue direction arrows" that you will see when using PCM navigation - so far that's about the only "difference" I've found for PCM nav vs AppleMaps in the context of the HUD
• "floating" caution ICON (yellow triangle) - for the "you're following too closely" warning there is a yellow caution icon that will be overlay'd the back center of the vehicle you're too close to - and it follows this vehicle where ever it moves - it's 'tracking' it and clearly labels the vehicle you're about to rear end!! it seems too be overlayed in the license plate and follows it so you clearly know which car you're about to take out - great for target practice!!!
• for the ACC/Innodrive follow distance setting - it overlays a matrix of dots (see picture above) the road and if there is a car in front of you - the matrix will be "masked" out outlining the car - again neat and clever - showing you clearly where in the following geometric plane the lead car "fits"…
• Porsche Navigation directions show up in the HUD
• if you are drifting out of your land a "red highlighter line" will be super-imposed over the actual lane marking you are violating - the red-line will directly match the exact curve of the lane marking and follow it as you adjust your land position - again clever and real time tracking to an external object to the vehicle…
• green-dot matrix lane detection markings on both lane markings (see above) - these "track" the lane markings and show you what the vehicle's system are "locking onto" for the lane marking
• if you do a "full power" acceleration - the G force is temporarily shown in the HUD - fun!
• music track information
• current call information
• when using Porsche Navigation as you approach a navigation point some blue arrows will appear (left or right) - and be approximately left/right in the HUD for direction you're taking - and as you get closer to the navigation point they grow in size from small (far away) to big (you're at your turn point) and then animate as you make the turn to indicate you're following the navigation instructions
• lane selection recommendation from the navigation - graphic to show you want to be in one of the 2 right most lanes of 4 lane choice from navigation instructions
• big collision alert (red white circle) takes up the whole hud if the vehicles feels you're about to slam into something

the list above is what I've seen so far in 3600 miles of driving - there may be more, but I haven't been in the circumstances that would've show me the feature(s). The green items are new, clever, and "interact" with the outside world which is what is pretty clever in the whole system. And Porsche seems to have just cleaned up the HUD and improved in general even for legacy functionality that is not news.

In short it's a new generation of HUD, it's not the same as previous HUD offerings from Porsche, and some of the new "AR" stuff is quite clever and useful in my opinion.

I hope you find the list useful - because those are the "core" items are are "new" and "different" - and so far this is the most specific list I'm aware of vs. vague marketing promises that do not discuss specifics.

 

[daveo4EV]

if you like existing HUD's from Audi/Porsche this HUD is "better" so you will get an "upgrade" if you option it - if you've never had a HUD you may find some of the features of this new HUD worthwhile and actually useful beyond the display of "static" information…

but it's clear to me this was a "focus" for Porsche and they put quite a bit of effort into this and the software/HUD represent a major new baseline for HUD functionality - so far the Macan EV is the only vehicle in Porsche's line up to have these features, even the new Taycan J1.2 HUD is the previous more static tech - not the new features from the Macan EV HUD…

this is not the HUD from your 2022 Cayenne or your 2021 Audi eTron SUV - it's an improvement…so try it out.

 

[daveo4EV]

I optioned the AR HUD on my 2024 Macan EV Turbo - I'm a sucker for tech so I've would've done it even if it "wasn't" new - I'm also experience with Porsche/Audi HUDs and they are pretty standard and acceptable, but lack any WOW factor - I have the 2021 Cayenne TurboS eHybrid w/HUD - and it's a normal everyday HUD which is nice…but hardly leading edge - but still worth it IMHO cause it's fun and sometime's useful tech…

but until you've experience the new AR HUD it's very very unclear what exactly it does…I'm hoping to provide some concise features so those that come after me can make a more informed optioning decision.

it's very very hard to get a demonstration video of the HUD - because it has a narrow field of view (driver only) and you have to holding a camera while driving - so you'll have to suffice with my descriptions - apologies.

I also lack a perspective of "state of the art" for HUDs across the industry - I do not know who has the "best" HUD in any car right now - my apologies - so I'm not saying Porsche/Macan are "the best". What I can say is this is not Audi/Porsche's previous HUD tech - this is a major step forward - so if you've had Audi/Porsche HUD''s in the past - this is a new HUD with new capabilities - it does all the same stuff, and some new stuff - so it's new, fresher, and more interactive - is the best "in the industry?" I have no idea - but it's a major step forward for Audi/Porsche vs. their previous offerings.

What does it do?

• some obvious things like like current speed, posted speed limits, navigation instructions, etc…all the standard existing legacy hud stuff
• for the EV it will show you the power-meter for power vs. regen - so that's nice
• it is configurable and you can control what it shows you to a certain extent - a lot like the information tiles for the PCM - you can add/remove various pre-configured bits of information packets
• all of this is the same as previous HUD's but sets a base line of minimal HUD viability

What is AR/New about this HUD? The list below are the "new" unique/clever things I've experienced in the new AR HUD - these are things my 2021 Cayenne does not do…green items in the list below are the "AR" items - these are displays in the HUD that are "interactive" with external objects/markings outside the vehicle - non-green items are just "static" information, but not AR interactive in the HUD

• CarPlay navigation directions show up in the HUD - woot! this is new for Porsche - previously on PCM navigation was shown in the HUD
  • when using non-Porsche navigation you do not get the fancy animated "blue direction arrows" that you will see when using PCM navigation - so far that's about the only "difference" I've found for PCM nav vs AppleMaps in the context of the HUD
• "floating" caution ICON (yellow triangle) - for the "you're following too closely" warning there is a yellow caution icon that will be overlay'd the back center of the vehicle you're too close to - and it follows this vehicle where ever it moves - it's 'tracking' it and clearly labels the vehicle you're about to rear end!! it seems too be overlayed in the license plate and follows it so you clearly know which car you're about to take out - great for target practice!!!
• for the ACC/Innodrive follow distance setting - it overlays a matrix of dots (see picture above) the road and if there is a car in front of you - the matrix will be "masked" out outlining the car - again neat and clever - showing you clearly where in the following geometric plane the lead car "fits"…
• Porsche Navigation directions show up in the HUD
• if you are drifting out of your land a "red highlighter line" will be super-imposed over the actual lane marking you are violating - the red-line will directly match the exact curve of the lane marking and follow it as you adjust your land position - again clever and real time tracking to an external object to the vehicle…
• green-dot matrix lane detection markings on both lane markings (see above) - these "track" the lane markings and show you what the vehicle's system are "locking onto" for the lane marking
• if you do a "full power" acceleration - the G force is temporarily shown in the HUD - fun!
• music track information
• current call information
• when using Porsche Navigation as you approach a navigation point some blue arrows will appear (left or right) - and be approximately left/right in the HUD for direction you're taking - and as you get closer to the navigation point they grow in size from small (far away) to big (you're at your turn point) and then animate as you make the turn to indicate you're following the navigation instructions
• lane selection recommendation from the navigation - graphic to show you want to be in one of the 2 right most lanes of 4 lane choice from navigation instructions
• big collision alert (red white circle) takes up the whole hud if the vehicles feels you're about to slam into something

the list above is what I've seen so far in 3600 miles of driving - there may be more, but I haven't been in the circumstances that would've show me the feature(s). The green items are new, clever, and "interact" with the outside world which is what is pretty clever in the whole system. And Porsche seems to have just cleaned up the HUD and improved in general even for legacy functionality that is not news.

In short it's a new generation of HUD, it's not the same as previous HUD offerings from Porsche, and some of the new "AR" stuff is quite clever and useful in my opinion.

I hope you find the list useful - because those are the "core" items are are "new" and "different" - and so far this is the most specific list I'm aware of vs. vague marketing promises that do not discuss specifics.

the AR "summary" is:

• floating tracking caution ICON for "following too close" vehicle's
• innodrive follow distance "dot-matrix plane" with vehicle tracking/masking on the field display - overlayed on the actual road in front of you…
• green tracking lane markings overlays showing you lane markings used for lane keeping
• red visual overlay/display for lane marking when you're violating lane marking
• animated blue-directional arrows for upcoming way points when using PCM navigation

of the new "AR" features I've seen/discovered- the floating caution icon tracking the vehicle in front of you is the most "wow" factor, useful, and really really shows the interactivity of the AR HUD…

next most "wow" is the "red line" overlay tracking the on-road lane markings for lane departure warning - really impressive real-time real-world tracking/integration of an "external" object/marking…

 

[Fleming23]

I feel it worth mentioning that the green lane markings and follow distance dot matrix disappear pretty quickly. Most of the time, at least as has been my experience, the HUD is just that of a standard heads up like most any other car. Only the yellow warning and arrows (if using native nav) are different.

To be honest, I was a bit let down by it all. The caution tracking of the car in front it neat I suppose, but after the first time or two that you see it, becomes a bit gimmicky IMO.

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