Land Rover has just announced a brand new system that turns your SUV's bonnet/hoot see-through. It's an prototype device right now, but it will be showcased on the Discovery Vision Concept coming to New York and will most likely make its way to the production model as well.
There have been a number of novel technologies that make life easier for regular road motorists. Note-worthy examples include the "park here" button that let your car take control of tricky parallel and bay maneuvers or the multitude of lane-keeping and safety monitoring scanners fitted to high-end cars. But now, Land Rover seems to have found a way to make life easier for the SUV people as well.
The hood of the vehicle is not actually transparent though. The system uses a camera in the grille of the car that records data and a smart windscreen head-up display that "projects" augmented reality imagery onto the hood.
Taking a premium SUV worth in excess of €50,000 offroad is always a nerve-wrecking experience. If drivers could see upcoming boulders, ravines or other obstacles, life would be so much easier for them.
This system is similar to an experimental one developed by the Japanese last year, which used a projector to make the rear bench "transparent" when parking. For now, the transparent hood remains a concept that could make it into a production car in the future. But, of corse, so were the park assist and lane assist features a few years back. The future is coming, only question is "when?".
"“As our vehicles become more capable and autonomous off-road, we will ensure the driver has the confidence to allow the car to continue to progress, over any terrain. We are developing new technologies including the Transparent Bonnet to give drivers an augmented view of reality to help them tackle anything from the toughest off-road route to the tight confines of an urban car park," said Dr Wolfgang Epple, Director of Research and Technology for Jaguar Land Rover.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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