Skip to main content

Car head-up display maker Navdy says units may stop functioning

Navdy
Alexander Kalogianni/Digital Trends
Remember Navdy, the company that makes head-up displays for your car that connected to your phone? Well, it looks like the company’s done. Navdy has sent an email out to customers stating that it’s no longer conducting business and is liquidating its assets.

Perhaps more important that the company’s issues is the fact that existing customers may soon find that their units will stop working. That’s  bad news for customers that spent $500 on a device that is essentially now a paperweight.

Recommended Videos

“What this means for you as a Navdy customer is that sometime within the next couple of weeks, your Navdy unit may stop functioning properly. Features like turn-by-turn navigation and voice recognition could fail and it is possible that this may cause the device to fail completely,” the company said in its email.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

According to Navdy, there is some hope — though things are looking pretty grim. The company says that it’s still looking to find a buyer for Navdy’s assets, but that regardless Navdy units will likely still stop functioning within the next few weeks.

Originally, we found Navdy to be a pretty successful product. In our review, we scored Navdy’s HUD an 8 out of 10, arguing that the device minimized distracted driving, offered great hands-free calling features, and modernized older cars without the need for highly expensive third-party components. It wasn’t perfect — steering wheel buttons did tend to get in the way — but an updated version of the device would definitely have been welcome.

Interestingly enough, at the end of the email customers are directed to a website if they have a claim against Navdy. While we’re not aware of any lawsuits against the company just yet, the news certainly could be a recipe for disaster for a company that’s already in the middle of failing.

Navdy wasn’t the only company building head-up displays, but it was perhaps the best. Companies like Garmin and Exploride built their own devices to bring navigation and notifications to the driver’s eye line and the devices range in price from under $50 to $500 and more. If you were thinking of buying one, you can check out our guide on them here.

We’ll update this article as we hear more about Navdy’s situation.

Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…
Bose wants to dominate car audio, and I heard its next-gen 3D automotive speakers
Bose logo on a speaker grille

Bose’s automotive audio business is huge, and it’s set to get even bigger. The company has been making big plays in car audio for some time now. The audio company works with premium brands like Porsche, building high-end speakers that allow drivers to experience high-quality audio on the road, whether they’re carting the family around in an Escalade or weaving around the highway (don’t do that) in a Porsche Macan.

But while it has a solid selection of audio brands under its belt, the world of personal audio is also evolving. Mercedes-Benz showed off its Dolby Atmos system at CES last year, and now, a year later, plenty of other brands are joining the trend. At CES 2025, Bose walked me through its current lineup of automotive audio products, as well as a sneak peek of what’s to come.
Immersive audio
The big trend in all areas of personal audio right now essentially boils down to supporting 3D audio formats like Dolby Atmos. Consumer home theater products are increasingly offering up-firing and side-firing speakers that can bounce audio around the room to simulate height and surround effects, while headphone brands are increasingly developing spatialized audio tech that can convert stereo audio into simulated spatial audio.

Read more
You Asked: What’s the most impressive thing you saw at CES?
You Asked CES Editors Cut

On today’s special edition of You Asked, we tracked down each of our editors and put them on the spot to find out what they thought was the most impressive thing they saw at CES 2025 in Early January. Let’s find out what they had to say.
Panasonic Z95B

There’s been some really cool TV tech at CES, but the thing I’m most excited about is the new Panasonic Z95B. Instead of the regular OLED display structure we’ve seen in recent years with MLA technology, this uses a four-layer panel structure. It features individual red, green, and blue layers (two of the latter) for the emissive light.

Read more
Volvo CTO Anders Bell chats its new do-it-all tech platform and future EVs
2025 Volvo EX90 front quarter view.

Volvo is at an inflection point. The company has finally launched the new Volvo EX90 -- it's long-awaited flagship electric SUV, designed to take on other premium large SUVs like the Rivian R1S. The new vehicle offers Volvo's signature Scandinavian style, but with modern features and Google's Android Automotive software.

Beyond being its first major electric SUV release, perhaps more important is the fact that the EX90 also represents the launch of Volvo's so-called Superset platform. Essentially, Superset is the Volvo-designed tech stack that is supposed to be used on all of its upcoming electric vehicles, containing all the modules and software necessary to power a built-out next-generation lineup of EVs.

Read more