I did a quick Grok search regarding edge blurriness for the HUD due to its anamorphic projection. The response paints a favorable picture of Lucid's HUD patent.
The Lucid Gravity's heads-up display (HUD) indeed employs an anamorphic projection technique, as detailed in Lucid's patent (WO2024112930A1), where a narrower physical display source projects a horizontally stretched image onto a curved intermediate screen. This screen acts as an optical expander, correcting distortions and widening the effective field of view (FOV) on the windshield without needing a larger emitter—reportedly achieving a broad ~20-30 degree horizontal FOV based on similar AR HUD designs in luxury EVs.
In principle, your concern about reduced resolution at the outer edges is valid: the fixed pixel count of the source display (likely in the millions, though exact specs aren't publicly detailed) gets spread across a wider projected area, which could lower pixels-per-degree (angular resolution) toward the periphery. This is a common challenge in anamorphic optics, potentially manifesting as subtle softening or blur if not compensated for.
However, the patent's design mitigates this through the shaped intermediate screen, which not only expands but also *corrects* for non-uniform magnification and keystone distortions inherent to windshield curvature and off-axis viewing. This ensures more even light distribution and focus across the FOV, preserving perceived sharpness. Lucid's in-house AR HUD is optimized for this, blending digital overlays with the real-world view at high contrast (up to 10,000:1 in similar systems) to minimize artifacts.
Real-world user feedback from early Gravity owners echoes some image quality quirks, but these align more with calibration, positioning, and environmental factors than inherent edge blur from anamorphics:
- Slight overall blurriness or double-vision when using both eyes, often resolved by head tilt or one-eye focus, tied to the curved windshield's vergence (3D depth alignment) rather than resolution drop-off.
- Inconsistent sharpness during road bumps or at varying speeds, possibly from minor optical jitter or dirt on the intermediate lens.
- No widespread complaints of *edge-specific* blurring; instead, praise for "crisp" central rendering, with issues fading after software updates or cleaning.
If edge blur becomes noticeable in your unit, it could stem from individual eye prescription mismatches (AR HUDs work best for emmetropic or corrected vision) or early-production variances—Lucid has iterated on this via OTA updates. Overall, the system prioritizes wide, immersive utility over pixel-perfect uniformity, but the optics are engineered to avoid pronounced peripheral degradation.
