Vehicle rear view apparatus utilizing heads up display and rear looking sensors

A vehicle rear view apparatus (8) and method has one or more rear looking sensors (30) which provide rear view information about the environment to the rear of the vehicle (10) and transmit such information via a connection (32, 34) to a heads up display (10) mounted within the vehicle. The heads up display projects an image representative of the rear view sensor output information onto the vehicle windshield (14) in the forward line of sight of the vehicle driver. The connection (32, 34) between the rear looking sensor (30) and the heads up display (12) may be a hardwired connection (32) or a wireless connection (34). The rear looking sensors (30) include one or more of a video camera, an object detector, a distance to object detector, an ultrasonic object detector, a device for projecting the path of the vehicle when moving in reverse, and a speed base time to collision with an object behind the vehicle.