Distance Technologies came out of stealth in June 2024 at the AWE industry show, which is where I first saw the company’s earliest light field display technology in action. Since then, Distance has added functions like contextual AI and introduced products like its Field Operator HUD (heads-up display) head-mounted system for military vehicle operators. The company has also been very active in the defense and aerospace sectors; its partners include Aechelon for in-flight MR simulations, Patria for XR windshield HUDs on 6×6 armored vehicles, General Dynamics Land Systems for HUDs in the Light Mobility Platform used by the British Army, and Supacat for the HUD system in its Jackal tactical vehicle platform.

While much of what Distance has shown to date has been in aerospace or defense, one of the most compelling use cases for Distance’s light field technology has been in the automotive sector, which has long needed an upgrade from expensive and complex HUD systems. One of Distance’s earlier automotive partnerships was with fellow Finnish company Basemark, whose Rocksolid AR engine enables immersive AR and unified HMI (human-machine interface) experiences across all displays. Distance partnered with Basemark to ensure that Distance’s light field displays would be compatible with Rocksolid.

Kia and the Panoramic Light Field HUD

Building on previous automotive partnerships, Distance has entered into an agreement with Kia to integrate its new panoramic light field HUD into the Kia Vision Meta Turismo. This is a prototype vehicle, specifically designed to showcase Kia’s design and engineering capabilities for players of the massively popular video game Gran Turismo 7. At Milan Design Week, Distance announced that Kia would integrate the latest panoramic light field HUD into its prototype vehicle.

The windshield HUD would allow the user to focus more squarely on the road and surrounding vehicles and people. I have personally seen AR HUD systems that also improve situational awareness and point out potential risks or collisions before they happen. They also help improve navigation, more clearly indicating the correct lane to use, upcoming turns, and so on for the driver, which both saves time and enhances safety. They can also allow the driver to see messages and notifications without needing to take their eyes off the road.

While Kia brought the Vision Meta Turismo to Milan — the first time the car has been physically shown outside of Korea — I was able to see a detailed version of the car in AR during NVIDIA’s GTC conference a couple of months ago. At Lenovo’s booth at GTC, Lenovo demonstrated a fully virtual version of this prototype that you could walk through using Autodesk’s VRED app inside an Apple Vision Pro headset running on NVIDIA’s Cloud XR 6.0. As with any good concept car, this one from Kia embodies what advanced HUDs might become years from now. That said, Distance’s accomplishments so far suggest that its technology has a good chance of translating into practical innovations that more drivers will use in the next few years, not way off in some Jetsons-like future.

Distance Technologies Continues to Innovate in HUD Technologies

Long term, I believe that Distance Technologies could have a big market in automotive as more cars remove or reduce the traditional dashboard in favor of larger tablets in the middle of the car — like we’ve already seen with Tesla, the Mustang Mach-E, Polestar, or Volvo. Additionally, there will still be plenty of military applications for the company’s technology, and we have yet to see it implemented for aerospace. Many of the AR technologies we have today — especially waveguides and displays — are descended from HUDs in the aerospace industry.

There are other areas where Distance’s technology has found a home, for example in its recent partnership with Galvion, through which Distance is providing optics and its Acuity operating system for integration into Galvion’s battle helmets. (This sounds a lot like how Anduril plans to build its helmet-based AR systems; for more, see my analysis of Anduril from February 2025.) While the Galvion collaboration won’t yield any products until 2027, it’s a clear indication of the breadth of Distance’s partnerships and applications.

Distance Technologies seems to be pursuing as many applications as possible, and while I haven’t yet tried its head-mounted displays, I do believe that its in-vehicle tech can meaningfully improve the user experience and enhance safety. There’s a lot of promise in what Distance is trying to do here, and Kia is clearly on board, which makes sense because Kia is without a doubt one of the most forward-thinking automotive manufacturers. I expect that we’ll see some Chinese OEMs go down this path as well, possibly even partnering with Distance. The fundamental driving experience has simply not improved enough over the years, and I think automotive OEMs recognize that the windshield in particular needs improvement. While autonomous driving seems sure to take over for many people eventually, there will still be a need to enhance the driving experience and make it easier and safer for everyone — and HUDs are well-suited for this purpose.