November 2, 2014 at 00:27Augmented reality helps drivers see blind spots
Robotic cars are already hard to surprise. Prototypes are already traveling, the functionality of the equipment resembles that of fighter aircraft:
This image depicts the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS), designed to simplify driving if not replaced by a driver.
ADAS functionality controls driving beam switching, helps to keep the car in a lane, implements adaptive cruise control, recognizes traffic signs, detects pedestrians / objects, prevents collisions, the interface implements an intelligent 2D and 3D view of the environment, and prevents collisions when reversing. Additionally, it is possible to expand the system with an intelligent night vision system, a long-range radar, laser rangefinders, a system that replaces side mirrors. It would seem that nothing else can be invented. And it remains only to argue about the reliability of these systems and whether it is worth trusting them. But in the leading Japanese laboratory of virtual reality, they found another direction to improve road safety.
Perhaps you dreamed of a transparent car, the racks and doors of which would not close the review?
You are driving along the highway, you see how the roadway rushes under your feet, the surrounding landscape is visible everywhere - front, back, right, left, top, bottom. Those blind spots created by doors, pillars, roof and floor disappeared. You are free, like a bird, and in complete control of your surroundings. You are like an airplane pilot flying over the road.
Researchers from the Japanese laboratories Tachi Laboratory / Inami Laboratory thought about the implementation of such a car.
Making a safe car out of glass is impossible. Therefore, the researchers decided to install cameras on the outside of the car, and on the racks, doors, ceiling, rear seats and doors display an image in accordance with the point of view of the driver. As a result, these obstacles “disappear”.
Due to the impossibility, insecurity and inappropriateness of installing LCD screens instead of upholstery, they used projectors and special reflective fabric in experimental vehicles.
But the surface of the car interior cannot be called a good screen - an uneven surface, and the head of the “viewer” is not always in the same place. The image projected on an uneven surface will be distorted and it is necessary to correct this for the driver to see the image in the correct perspective.
A solution was found with the new projector system, which reflects the light exactly back along the path that it has just taken. Thus, you can design the correct image, in accordance with the correct position, directly on the "viewer", provided that the projector is close enough to the eyes of the "viewer". In order to do this, the projector must be on the head of a person (the "viewer") or the projector is installed on the ceiling of the cabin, and the movements and position of the head should be monitored by sensors.
To simplify the installation of the system in a finished car, without modifying its design, a translucent mirror was used in experimental vehicles, and the projector was placed at the bottom.
A special retroreflective coating gives a bright reflected image.
The coating consists of tiny balls that refract light in the opposite direction. Thanks to this method, the image is 100 times brighter, which is achieved using conventional screens. Since the reflection occurs along the projection axis, there is no distortion of the image, even when the image is projected on the screen of complex shape.
This system can also work as a kind of optical camouflage if a person wears clothes covered with retroreflective balls.
This system allows you to project multiple images on one screen, and thus the technology becomes available to all people in the car, and not just one driver. To do this, you need to install an additional number of projectors according to the number of people in the car, but this would be a very cumbersome decision. Therefore, a workaround was found with only an array of lenses added to the existing projector-screen system. Each element of the array works as a separate projector, thus creating the corresponding number of “points of view”.
The experimental system, even in the yet truncated functionality, made the blind spots of the car visible to the driver, and the image is bright enough to be visible in the afternoon.
Then, an installation was created specifically for the Toyota Prius, which made the rear view almost transparent, so that the driver can see everything behind the car when reversing. In this case, the system consisted of one projector and six lenses, which allows the driver to feel natural, in comparison with the system where the tracking of the movement of the driver’s head was used. The result is a panoramic view of the rear view zone.
The system can be applied, for example, in airplanes, in the cabins of cruise ships, manned astronautics and in any other areas where it is necessary to “see through walls”.
Demonstration of the system:
This image depicts the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS), designed to simplify driving if not replaced by a driver.
ADAS functionality controls driving beam switching, helps to keep the car in a lane, implements adaptive cruise control, recognizes traffic signs, detects pedestrians / objects, prevents collisions, the interface implements an intelligent 2D and 3D view of the environment, and prevents collisions when reversing. Additionally, it is possible to expand the system with an intelligent night vision system, a long-range radar, laser rangefinders, a system that replaces side mirrors. It would seem that nothing else can be invented. And it remains only to argue about the reliability of these systems and whether it is worth trusting them. But in the leading Japanese laboratory of virtual reality, they found another direction to improve road safety.
Perhaps you dreamed of a transparent car, the racks and doors of which would not close the review?
You are driving along the highway, you see how the roadway rushes under your feet, the surrounding landscape is visible everywhere - front, back, right, left, top, bottom. Those blind spots created by doors, pillars, roof and floor disappeared. You are free, like a bird, and in complete control of your surroundings. You are like an airplane pilot flying over the road.
Researchers from the Japanese laboratories Tachi Laboratory / Inami Laboratory thought about the implementation of such a car.
Making a safe car out of glass is impossible. Therefore, the researchers decided to install cameras on the outside of the car, and on the racks, doors, ceiling, rear seats and doors display an image in accordance with the point of view of the driver. As a result, these obstacles “disappear”.
Due to the impossibility, insecurity and inappropriateness of installing LCD screens instead of upholstery, they used projectors and special reflective fabric in experimental vehicles.
But the surface of the car interior cannot be called a good screen - an uneven surface, and the head of the “viewer” is not always in the same place. The image projected on an uneven surface will be distorted and it is necessary to correct this for the driver to see the image in the correct perspective.
A solution was found with the new projector system, which reflects the light exactly back along the path that it has just taken. Thus, you can design the correct image, in accordance with the correct position, directly on the "viewer", provided that the projector is close enough to the eyes of the "viewer". In order to do this, the projector must be on the head of a person (the "viewer") or the projector is installed on the ceiling of the cabin, and the movements and position of the head should be monitored by sensors.
To simplify the installation of the system in a finished car, without modifying its design, a translucent mirror was used in experimental vehicles, and the projector was placed at the bottom.
A special retroreflective coating gives a bright reflected image.
The coating consists of tiny balls that refract light in the opposite direction. Thanks to this method, the image is 100 times brighter, which is achieved using conventional screens. Since the reflection occurs along the projection axis, there is no distortion of the image, even when the image is projected on the screen of complex shape.
This system can also work as a kind of optical camouflage if a person wears clothes covered with retroreflective balls.
This system allows you to project multiple images on one screen, and thus the technology becomes available to all people in the car, and not just one driver. To do this, you need to install an additional number of projectors according to the number of people in the car, but this would be a very cumbersome decision. Therefore, a workaround was found with only an array of lenses added to the existing projector-screen system. Each element of the array works as a separate projector, thus creating the corresponding number of “points of view”.
The experimental system, even in the yet truncated functionality, made the blind spots of the car visible to the driver, and the image is bright enough to be visible in the afternoon.
Then, an installation was created specifically for the Toyota Prius, which made the rear view almost transparent, so that the driver can see everything behind the car when reversing. In this case, the system consisted of one projector and six lenses, which allows the driver to feel natural, in comparison with the system where the tracking of the movement of the driver’s head was used. The result is a panoramic view of the rear view zone.
The system can be applied, for example, in airplanes, in the cabins of cruise ships, manned astronautics and in any other areas where it is necessary to “see through walls”.
Demonstration of the system: