GM Working On Interactive Windshields

this_boat_is_real writes "Rather than project info onto a portion of the windshield, GM's latest experiment uses the entire windshield as a display. Small ultraviolet lasers project data gleaned from sensors and cameras onto the glass. General Motors geeks are working alongside researchers from several universities to develop a system that integrates night vision, navigation and on-board cameras to improve our ability to see — and avoid — problems, particularly in adverse conditions like fog."

Comments

"Active Windshield" - what I want

[dpilot]

I live west of my place of employment, and the recent time change has given me it's yearly double-whammy. When you live west of where you work, it means that you're driving east in the morning to get there, and west in the evening to get home. Depending on start and stop times, it means that the sun can be right on the horizon, blinding you at both times. This happens for a few weeks each spring and fall, until the sun rises earlier and sets later, so that the visor can adequately and easily block it. Then time change comes, knocking the sun back down to the horizon.

I want an "active windshield" that knows where my eyeballs are, knows where the sun is, and blackens just the right spot (with a little margin, of course) to shade my eyes. Compared to that, any heads-up displays are secondary.

Re:Reward vs risk?

[Runaway1956]

Been there, done that. Pulling over isn't always the best thing to do. Ask a California highway patrol, he'll tell you that the people BEHIND you, who can't see where they are going, will follow your tail lights anywhere. Trying to stop in that thick fog invites an accident.

I experienced a sudden downpour of rain in Mississippi, on the interstate. I mean, no warning at all. Someone on the CB radio said "Rain", and then I was in it. No little warning spatter or anything. Just a solid sheet of water, like walking under a rain spout during a downpour.

Someone one the CB said he was stopping til it ended, someone quickly answered, "Don't stop - there's oil on the road, you can't stop, and the people behind you can't stop!" In six or seven minutes we had all made it through the squall, no one went in the ditch, and we were happy.

Having driven much of my life on ice, I already knew that the best answer is often NOT to touch the brakes. We got lucky as hell, that day, that no one ahead of us hit THEIR brakes!

Re:Reward vs risk?

[kimvette]

Saab, BMW, Volvo, you know, any decent European car. The problem is, a lot of Americans don't know what they are (even the people who own cars that have the fog lights) so when people are tailgating obnoxiously I hit the switch (I have rear fogs on both sides, not just the driver side) and the people behind me invariably back off, thinking I am breaking, but I actually accelerate slightly to confuse them and get them to back off further.

You've seen rear fog lights. Ever see a volvo or saab with one super-bright "brake" light that is stuck on? You've seen an idiot who doesn't know what the rear fog light is for and thus leaves it on all the time.