Virtual Cable takes your GPS and raises you a heads-up display
Two things plague GPS users: being forced to deal with dubious direction vocalizations and the amount of time spent looking at the screen when you should be paying attention to the road. MVS is developing a solution and it's likely the most revolutionary concept to date.
The system is comprised of a series of mirrors that project a three-dimensional line onto the windshield giving drivers a heads-up display of their intended path of travel. The Virtual Cable shown above the top of the windscreen is usable at night and seems to integrate cleanly into the surrounding environment, allowing users to focus on the road and simply use their peripheral vision to guide them.
The system is currently under development, but the company's website has a few videos showing a mock-up of how it could work.
[Source: MVS]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
porschedevotee 6:36PM (12/18/2007)
Badass. Want it.
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Mulad 6:37PM (12/18/2007)
Looks like a great idea, though I am somewhat concerned because I'm not sure if GPS maps have quite enough precision to do this safely. On some roads, that cable will likely seem to float above a lane containing oncoming traffic. Hopefully they've compensated for that, though.
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icetraxx 6:47PM (12/18/2007)
It is not GPS itself that is imprecise, many rely on the precision and accuracy of GPS including the military. The problem is with the map cartography, and subpar GPS equipment or software, that could cause that red cable to appear over oncoming traffic.
icetraxx 6:48PM (12/18/2007)
sorry, I see you said GPS map. I read your comment wrong... :-(
3000GT TwinTurbo 6:37PM (12/18/2007)
ever notice how real life is getting more and more like video games?
and my parents said i was wasting my time...
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LHP 7:10PM (12/18/2007)
Indeed. Imagine "Best Lap" functionality hacked into that thing.
"Hang on, honey. I wanna beat my ghost around the bend."
Toy Yoda 7:31PM (12/18/2007)
hehe..
Yeah, and our cars can have "Checkpoint!" feature too for fast and impulsive drivers.
riggs 1:09PM (12/19/2007)
why lhp isnt highly voted amazes me. anyways you win the internet sir.
Whitie 6:44PM (12/18/2007)
Wow, a product that actually fills a significant need. I hope the company can get it to market quickly.
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Zane 6:45PM (12/18/2007)
This might be an awesome idea but talking about current GPS owners "looking" at the screen and away from the road might be applicable to most but not all. There's something called peripheral vision, you know. TTS was invented for the same reason to help those crazy morons keep their eyes on the road.
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Chocolate 8:32PM (12/18/2007)
I keep telling myself the same thing when I fiddle with my BlackBerry.
Whiplash 6:49PM (12/18/2007)
Remember the people in England driving into the river because the GPS said there was a road there?
I can't wait until somebody drives into oncoming traffic because "I was following the red line". Classic.
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atrofimo 7:18PM (12/18/2007)
you'd need to test actual drivers. it looks like a good way to get tunnel vision...
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Guenther 7:31PM (12/18/2007)
Many OEM systems use the small "data" screen in the cluster to display the turn by turn info. Some do turn by turn with heads-up. If you can't follow those, please let someone else drive.
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Quattrofan 7:53PM (12/18/2007)
Total Tunnel Vision waiting to happen. People driving off bridges and off road. Hilarity ensues.
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Franz 8:30PM (12/18/2007)
I think this is a very good idea... if they can get it to be reliable. But the idea of not having to focus on a tiny sat/nav screen is intriguing.
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Pat 8:34PM (12/18/2007)
Cool thing about this is that it's taking one step closer to a virtual integration with computers ... I love it!
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mk 10:09PM (12/18/2007)
I like this theory, too.
The problem with current nav, is 1: that it is built in, 2: that it detracts your attention.
(why should a car be built with an embedded system that is better suited to be upgradeable, or transferred to other vehicles. portable GPS nav makes more sense than built-in, but that is a bit of a sidebar.)
People drive into rivers, or other things because they aren't coordinating between the screen and the road and land marks. Projecting the screen onto the real view makes all kinds of sense, there.
Drivers, even marginal ones don't get into THAT many accidents, and when paying attention, usually can somewhat navigate traffic while looking at it.
projecting the directions on the actual landscape makes natural synthesis of the information much easier, and will get better with interface development. It also lessens heads-down distraction time, and the inherent problems with that.
I have long wished that more cars would display more information in heads-up line-of-sight in an intelligent way. Even momentary display of media center, or HVAC, or other subsystem information. Integration with phones, and other things open even more adaptability, without the current inherent distraction.
Once these systems become more prevalent, I can only hope, and it would stand to reason, that people will maintain their lines of sight better if the information they want is presented on an as-needed basis, in their lines of sight, without information overload, and indicators that tell drivers when they really should look at the normal indicators.
It is probably more likely than reverting to the past, and trying to get people to forego those things like GPS navigation, cell phones, iPods, and in-car-entertainment systems.
I still really like the 75th anniversary Maserati Birdcage concept, one thing being the transparent computer-driven data display projected high, and inline with the outward view.
This HUD-based NAV is a good example of some real forward thinking that can have practical advances in every-day useage of the products. (cars and navigation systems concurrently)
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od 10:00PM (12/18/2007)
The videos are fake, although the technology may be real. Notice that the line actually disappears _behind_ objects such as tree trunks. If the line is being projected from inside the car, then it should always be visible in front of any object outside the car.
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Kurt B 10:11PM (12/18/2007)
That would be genius... if there were no lines or other cars on the road.
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