Full real-life image reproduction of "transparent car" technology interpretation

In the past, you might have been very happy to have a reversing radar in your car, but now there are reversing images, bird's-eye view image detection systems, and side camera assistance, which allow you to park almost by looking at the screen. However, compared with an invention recently disclosed by Keio University in Japan, the previous ones seem to pale in comparison, which is a technology that can almost turn your car into a transparent one.

Compared with ordinary reversing image systems, this system also has a camera placed at the rear of the car to collect images from the rear. The main difference lies in the display device - the new technology uses a projection device to project the image onto a translucent display screen between the front and rear seats, so that the driver can see the image behind the car from the projection screen. At the same time, because the projection screen is translucent, the rear passengers can also see the complete image behind the car. (Most of the pictures in this article are screenshots of the video, so please forgive me for the limited quality.)

In addition, the onboard host can analyze the required size of the projected image, so that the image can be better integrated with the car, which gives the driver the feeling that the car has become "transparent" and can directly see the external objects, which is very intuitive. In fact, this technology is not the first time it has appeared. The "invisibility cloak" invention using similar technology was selected as one of the most popular inventions by Time magazine in 2003.

Compared with the already very mature traditional parking image assistance function, Professor Masahiko Inami, the project leader of this project at Keio University, believes that their technology is not meaningless. Compared with existing imaging technology, the system they developed is obviously more three-dimensional and allows drivers to drive the vehicle more naturally and comfortably. Although only the rear of the car is "transparent" at present, Inami plans to expand this technology to the entire car body, providing drivers with a 360-degree full view, and it is expected to complete this technology within the next five years.

In addition to being used in ordinary passenger cars, this technology actually also has broad application prospects in commercial vehicles with poorer visibility and more blind spots (currently many large buses are already equipped with ordinary reversing images), which is very helpful in improving safety and reducing accidents.