Jaguar Land Rover has revealed its 360-degree virtual urban windscreen research, which uses transparent pillars to give drivers a 360-degree view outside the car.
It works by the company embedding a screen in the surface of each pillar inside the car, and takes a live video feed from cameras covering angles obscured by the blind spots created by the A, B and C-pillars.
The firm said its heads-up display could display an on-screen symbol to show the movement of other road users, and when the driver indicates, or move their head over their shoulder the system will automatically make the relevant pillars transparent.
JLR said when connected to the Internet, the virtual windscreen could display information such as petrol prices and the number of parking spaces.
The company claimed the connected windscreen could also make navigation easier by developing a ‘follow me ghost’ which projects an image of a vehicle – like a time trial ghost in video games – for the driver to follow to the destination.
“Driving on city streets can be a stressful experience, but imagine being able to drive across town without having to look at road signs, or be distracted trying to locate a parking space as you drive by,” said Dr Wolfgang Epple, director of research and technology at Jaguar Land Rover.
“We want to present all of this information on a heads-up display in the driver’s eye-line, so the driver doesn’t have to seek it out for themselves and take their eyes off the road ahead,” said Dr Epple.