It finally looks like the
bailout for auto industries is going to start bailing us out — literally.
General Motors Research and Development and several universities are working on developing vehicle sensors
and cameras to see through fog and project a clearer image onto your windshield.
Not only that, night vision will help identify and highlight the precise location of animals on the side of
the road that may have originally been impossible to see with the naked eye.
Now, those deathly, fog-shrouded mornings become a fun excuse to make the most of some
21st-century technology that takes safety to a whole new level.
“Let’s say you’re driving in a fog — we could use the vehicle’s infrared cameras to identify where the edge
of the road is and the lasers could ‘paint’ the edge of the road onto the windshield so the driver knows
where the edge of the road is,” Thomas Seder, a group lab manager at GM Research and Development, said in a
press release.
This would be part of the next generation of GM’s head-up display (HUD) systems, which currently places
information like vehicle speed, lane change indicator status and vehicle warning messages directly in the
driver’s field of vision. These systems are currently available on the GMC Acadia, Chevrolet Corvette, Buick
LaCrosse and Cadillac STS. Several other manufacturers use the current technology, and it’s also a key
feature in modern fighter jets and some motorcycle helmets.
However, GM said the next generation “could transform the everyday windshield.”
A compact laser would put a large area of transparent display on the windshield, instead of current systems
that only use a small portion of it. Adding even more safety, the system would alert drivers of potential
dangers outside of the field of vision, like children playing or motorcycles passing.
The HUD would also be able to be combined with technology similar to that of the Opel Eye system that debuted
on the 2009 Opel Insignia. The Opel Eye is automated sign-reading technology that alerts the driver if he or
she is driving over the posted speed limit or if there are potential problems, like construction, ahead. It
would also be able to let the driver know when a desired exit is approaching.
While there isn’t an official release date, GM says one is not far off and testing has occurred already.
It’s like hockey, when they say you always have to keep your head up when you’re skating. The more you can do
it in your vehicle, the better. •
Photo © 2009
General Motors / Wieck Media Services, Inc.
