Land Rover Demos "Transparent Hood" 172
cartechboy (2660665) writes "When we were kids, we were promised flying cars in the future, like The Jetsons. Well, now it's the future, and we don't have any flying cars. But Land Rover just unveiled some crazy new technology called the Transparent Hood system. It's brilliant in its simplicity, and yet quite complex in its implementation. Using a web of camera images and projectors, the Transparent Hood system projects the area just in front of and underneath the nose of the vehicle onto a head-up display along the lower portion of the windshield. Not only is this obviously breathtaking, but when it comes to off-roading—or parking in tight urban spaces—this could change the game. It will allow drivers to see precisely what's below them and immediately in front of them allowing precise placement of the vehicle's front wheels. The system also displays key vehicle data including speed, incline, roll angle, steering position, and drive mode. People, this is the future, and the future is now."
So.... (Score:5, Insightful)
The "demo" is just a "virtual prototype in testing", also known as: CGI. What an innovative concept... not. Please get back to me once you really have something to show.
Re:Parallax, and why stop at the hood? (Score:4, Insightful)
Good for Offroading... Offroading = mud (Score:5, Insightful)
The thing I don't get with these camera displays is the fact that they don't seem to have wipers on the camera, with cleaning solution.
Snow/Salt/Mud/Dirt really collect and make visibility bad. If you are offroading then one puddle and your feature is useless.
Re:More problems. (Score:4, Insightful)
Ding ding! Places like that are always looking to upsell, so when you come in for an oil change, they look for something else to sell you, such as an air filter change, a transmission oil change, brake service, etc. Sometimes they even do things like show you a worn belt or filter which isn't even from your car, claiming it is, and saying it needs to be changed.
Unfortunately, many times the monkeys at these service places don't know how to put wheels back on correctly.
Re:So... (Score:4, Insightful)
Bad for you perhaps, but the reason we have those high curved bonnets now is to protect pedestrians when you hit them. It isn't the initial contact with their legs that gives them fatal injuries, it's the blow as their head slams down against the bonnet. Previously the engine block tended to be right under the thin metal cover so their skull effectively went into that. Now there is more room for the bonnet to flex and cushion the blow.