South Korean car parts company Hyundai Mobis has invested in Envisics, a UK-based developer of holographic technologies for augmented reality head-up displays (AR-HUDs) and automotive sensor systems.

Apart from Hyundai Mobis, Envisics also secured investments from General Motors Ventures, SAIC Motors and Van Tuyl Companies.

Founded in 2010 by Jamieson Christmas from the University of Cambridge, Envisics is focused on making the future of holographic technology a reality for smarter and safer vehicles.

The UK company’s digital holographic technology uses the most advanced hologram implementation methods, offering a software-defined broad field of view without additional optical devices.

The AR HUD feature matches driving information with the road ahead in real-time and projects it onto the windshield.

Since the last three years, Hyundai Mobis has been investing in autonomous driving and electrification even though the Covid-19 pandemic affected business conditions globally.

Hyundai Mobis established three new electrification facilities in Korea. The company also has four technology centres in Germany, China, India and the US.

Hyundai Mobis executive vice-president, CTO, Sung Hwan Cho said: “Hyundai Mobis will jointly develop autonomous driving specialised AR HUD with Envisics, targeting mass production by 2025.

“We will proactively present the next-generation AR HUD solutions to global automakers for increased safety and convenience to avoid distracting drivers.”

The HUD market is expected to increase by about 12% on average every year by 2025, and AR HUD is estimated to grow to 12 million in 2030 from the market size of 1 million in 2025.

In 2019, Hyundai Mobis invested $50m in Velodyne. The South Korean firm also made direct investment in the joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and technology firm Aptiv.

In 2018, Hyundai Mobis invested in deep-learning-based camera sensor maker StradVision (Korea).