The forerunner of the head-up display
12/15/2015
As long as 60 years ago, the innovative car manufacturer Studebaker came up with the idea that it would be good if you could read the speed of the car without taking your eyes off the road.
The Studebaker engineers called the instrument mounted on top of the dashboard the "Safety-eye Speedometer" , which they installed in passenger cars built in 1956.
Equipped with large numbers and a color-changing illumination depending on the speed (at 0 to 35 miles per hour the display lit up green, at 35 to 60 orange and over 60 miles per hour red), this speedometer was intended to ensure greater safety.
A good idea, but probably not as well received by customers as hoped. In any case, Studebaker dispensed with this equipment element again in later models and it would be decades before the idea was taken up again with the admittedly much more convincing head-up display.
