Ghost Car and Invisible Pillars: That's what JLR team is working on

JLR Urban Windscreen, Follow Me "Ghost Car" and Transparent Pillars

Boffins at Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) research and development facility in Whitley are working on an awesome new technology that can make car’s window pillars invisible, and they are also putting their talents in making the next generation windscreens that can overlay information onto the real world.

This new technology comes on Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) recent research into a transparent bonnet that was first seen in the Discovery Vision Concept, which had some cameras mounted underneath the vehicle that provided a live video feed to a massive head-up display that covered the entire windshield.

A spokesperson for JLR said that both camera and head-up display technology have improved with days and more importantly have become cheap enough to begin experimenting with other applications.

Dr. Wolfgang Epple who is the director of research and technology at JLR said that tiny screens have been applied to all pillars inside the research vehicles, which take a live video feed from outside, thus making them almost 'invisible' when needed. This tech could be particularly useful when navigating through a tight parking space, pulling out of a T-junction and also at times like when the hordes of cyclists race along in the busy streets. Moreover, the In-car sensors can also detect when a driver moves their head while overtaking other vehicles, or switch on the indicators, and automatically renders the appropriate pillar 'invisible'.

The humble windscreen has also come under examination by Jaguar Land Rover’s crack team, which has fitted a large head-up display that twains the width of the glass.

This so-called 360 Virtual Urban Windscreen can help the driver in many ways. It can take live information from the Cloud, such as fuel prices and available parking spaces, and overlay them in real time. It can detect the pedestrian walking on the road and even the road signs. And moreover, this technology can help the drivers to fulfill their innermost Gran Turismo fantasies and follow a “Ghost Car” that would help the driver to reach their destination just by following it. This would rather make the drivers not to follow often-unreliable audio cues from a traditional satellite navigation system.

“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. Epple. “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.”

Seems appealing enough. Right? Alright, so now just take a look at the video and see the windscreen in action as its really awesome.

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