Microvision and European Automaker to Develop Advanced Automotive Displays

 Companies Will Prototype Driver Information and 'Infotainment' Applications
                             For Future Vehicles

    BOTHELL, Wash., Aug. 13 Microvision , the
leader in light scanning technologies, today announced it has received a
predevelopment contract from a European automaker to begin rapid prototyping
of driver and passenger information and "infotainment" displays for
demonstration and evaluation in test vehicles.

    The initial work is expected to take six months and will involve novel
head-up display (HUD) projection and driver/passenger information center
applications via rear projection display, both using Microvision's proprietary
scanning display technology.

    The advanced head-up display systems will enable the driver to view
transparent images, eventually in full color, for day/night navigation
information, as well as night vision imagery by projecting the images on the
windshield.  Projection displays also will be incorporated into a driver
information center that can contain virtually any information relevant to the
driver.  For passengers, extremely high-resolution rear projection displays
will deliver a variety of "infotainment" applications, including video gaming
and movies, and eventually, mobile Internet capability.

    According to Tom Sanko, Microvision's vice president of marketing, the
project will show that Microvision's scanning display technology may well
solve the problem of delivering high information content to drivers and
passengers in future automobiles where display size, weight, flexible design
configuration, power consumption and visibility are key factors.

    "The interest from the automotive industry for our display technology is
growing quickly," said Sanko.  "Present display technologies have performance
and cost limitations that we believe can be overcome with our scanning
displays because our display 'engine' can be made very small and very
inexpensively and yet still yield extremely bright, high fidelity images."

    Drivers and passengers, and subsequently automotive manufacturers, are all
looking for enhanced display capabilities within their automobiles, said
Sanko.  "As we all spend more time in automobiles, our vehicles need to be
more fully integrated with a variety of high-quality navigation and
entertainment display systems.  In this European automaker, we have a partner
demonstrably on the leading edge of automotive technology, and fully able to
appreciate and quickly leverage the potential of our scanning display
approach.  We are excited to work with this company and pleased that it
considered Microvision's displays as a solution for automotive display
applications."