WayRay, a Swiss based developer of HUD systems (with offices in San Francisco and Moscow), announced that Alibaba and other investors have invested US$18 million into the company during the Series B financing round. The investment is in support of a cooperation between WayRay and Banma Technologies, a startup company funded by Alibaba and SAIC Motor, China’s largest car manufacturer. The goal is to incorporate an AR based HUD system in the 2018 Banma model.
Source: WayRay
We reported on WayRay before in 2015 when they closed their Series A funding.
Analyst Comment
While the press release promises the word’s first holographic AR HUD to be installed in the newly developed vehicle, it also very short on technology details, like how they manage to create a holographic projector in the car, when we can’t do that in a room with plenty of room for all the processors needed. They state that they have developed plenty of IP in recent years, but are still not showing anything other than photoshopped images of a HUD system. They also claim that they will be releasing a consumer version of their Navion system in 2017 and aim to sign contracts with major international car manufacturers. (NH)
