Jaguar Land Rover reveals transparent pillar technology | video

Invisible pillar tech set to boost safety by banishing blind spots.

Augmented reality systems could soon remove the blind spots caused by intrusive roof pillars in future Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles.

Similar to the off-road-orientated transparent bonnet technology showcased by Land Rover at this year’s New York motor show, the augmented reality tech has now found a more mainstream application in see-through pillars.

The invisible pillar tech works by taking a live video feed from various angles around the car and displaying the image in real time on a screen which is built into each of the pillars.

The system virtually gives the driver a 360 degree view around the car – providing they can peer around the headrests and irritating rear seat passengers. Maybe they can make them invisible too? 

These screens are also connected to an advanced head-up display device which can highlight obstacles, pedestrians or other motorists via an on-screen alert.

The transparent pillars may also be activated via the car’s indicator signals, so when the driver applies their right turn signal to merge, overtake or enter a side street, the pillars on the right side of the car become transparent.

Jaguar also says the 360-degree virtual windscreen technology has the potential to be linked with the Cloud to connect the car with road infrastructure and local businesses.

For example, the windscreen could display the fuel prices of the nearest petrol station or the number of parking spaces available at a nearby car park. It could probably show your Twitter and Facebook notifications too, but that may be somewhat unsafe.

Jaguar Land Rover is also using its virtual windscreen electronics to make satellite navigation systems more user-friendly by projecting a ‘ghost car’ onto the windscreen for the driver to follow to their destination.

The aim is to make driving safer by reducing the potential for accidents, said Dr Wolfgang Epple, R&D boss at Jaguar Land Rover.

“The Jaguar Land Rover research team is developing this technology to improve visibility and to give the driver with the right information at the right time,” he said.  

“If we can keep the driver’s eyes on the road ahead and present information in a non-distracting way, we can help drivers make better decisions in the most demanding and congested driving environments.”