Head-up displays technology may still be in its infancy when it comes to production cars, but German supplier Continental says it is set to take it to a whole new level and have a new system in production by 2017.

The new system employs "augmented reality" utilising much of the windscreen as a display area for data and images. Continental says it will change how drivers see the road and mean those vital few seconds or travelling blind when looking at the instrument panel will be a thing of the past.

Eelco Spoelder, chief of Continental's instrumentation and Driver Human Machine Interface Division says the company will market its technology as a safety device and already has an unnamed car maker lined up as its first customer in just three years time.

The move from a standard head up display to the Augmented Reality Head-up Display has been likened to going from playing a game on your phone to using the latest console on a giant TV screen.  

Continental also says that as well as the pure display function the new technology will have a vital role to play in the development of the latest intelligent driving technology and a move towards periods of automated driving.