Navdy Launches Car Heads-Up Display for Android and iOS Smartphones

Navdy on Tuesday launched a heads-up display (HUD) car console at $499. The company claims that the new heads-up display (HUD) will allow users to access their smartphone apps while driving, without taking the smartphone out of their pockets, or removing their hands from the steering wheel for extended periods of time.

As an introductory offer, Navdy has priced the HUD at $299 for the first 30-days, after which the device will be available at its original price. The Navdy heads-up display will only ship sometime in early 2015.

Navdy is also offering a 10 percent refund to early adopters for each friend they refer to buy the latest heads-up display (HUD) car console. The Navdy car console can be paired over Bluetooth, and it can also share data with smartphone over Wi-Fi.

The company said, "Navdy is running a 30 day pre-order campaign on navdy.com to gauge consumer demand and collect feedback from early adopters. Backers will have early access to the Navdy device so that they can provide feedback and help guide the app development process as the company ramps up to a wider release."

Notably, Navdy's heads-up display features a projection transparent display and also supports voice and gesture commands for picking up calls, texting, making calls and other stuff. The device uses a magnetic mount that helps it to stay on top of the dashboard of compatible vehicles. The company notes that the heads-up display (HUD) car console can be easily moved to another car.

The new Navdy device is compatible with Apple (iOS 7+) and Android (4.3+) smartphones. However, users will need to install the Navdy companion app for Android and iOS to set-up the device.

Recently, Apple and Google also made a push into the automobile sector with CarPlay and Android Auto, respectively.

(Also see: Apple CarPlay Review)

Apple announced CarPlay, a feature that allowed users to plug their phones into compatible vehicles in order to control entertainment, navigation, and call handling features via voice commands and steering-mounted controls in March.

Meanwhile, Google unveiled Android Auto, an operating system that has been tailored to work with cars at I/O.