Samsung Makes Trucks "Transparent" for Safer Overtaking

Samsung, the people who typically make our phones and flatscreen TVs, decided enough was enough. They have developed a safety feature that allows you to overtake lorries safely. How? By showing you what's in front.

The system works like x-ray vision. A camera located at the front of the truck scans the road and displays at the back show the car behind what would otherwise be obscured.

Test prototypes have begun testing in Argentina. They use a wireless camera that sends its feed to four monitors at the rear. The driver can then make a much better decision if it's safe to pass or not.

What about at night? A night vision sensor solves that problem quite easily. However, there are a number of reasons why your local truck company won't adopt this feature. Firstly, the four screens are expensive and would be a prime target for thieves. We can already imagine some rednecks watching the FIFA on their gigantic improvised entertainment system.

Secondly, this is a cost-competitive industry, so unless those screens also show Pepsi commercials or come with an app for dancing girls, nobody will want to pay for them.

A more viable solution would be to improve vehicle-to-vehicle connections. After all, we're on the verge of seeing the first autonomous vehicles on the road. There's less electricity consumed and probably less maintenance involved as well.

“So far Samsung has been able to confirm that the technology works and that this idea can save the lives of many people,” the Korean company says. We can't disagree with that, so without further ado, we'll let you check out the tech.