We've seen quite a few
next-gen nav device
concepts, but none with as much potential as the Virtual Cable, from a New Jersey company called Making Virtual Solid. The system uses a laser, a set of lenses, and a moving mirror mounted in the dashboard to project a 3D route-guidance line above the road ahead, as though it's actually out in front of the driver. Besides making driving that much more like a video game, the company says mass-produced versions will cost somewhere around $400 as a factory-installed option, and can be easily interfaced with existing GPS systems. Sadly, there don't appear to be any live videos of the system in action, but judging from the number of patent applications and incredibly detailed schematics and explanations on the website, the vapor factor seems pretty low. Check the read link for a set of video mockups of the system in action.
posted Dec 17th 2007 11:03PM
when would this be available - any news?
I can imagine how many GPS mishaps there will be when the mirror's motors go bad! In all seriousness, this does look pretty cool though. But what if there are cars in front of you - this won't really help all that much....
So what if there are?? It interfaces with GPS, GPS knows how fast you are going and where you are, it's not going to start moving the line even if you slow down, it will move according to your position at that moment...
I'm kind of concerned what happens if you move your heard two inches to the left. Or right. Think about it....
"if you move your heard two inches to the left"
You might lose a sheep or two on the cliff sides, but eventually, you'll make it to your destination.
It wouldn't matter if you moved your head to the left by two inches, or if you had the person in the passenger seat telling you where to turn. Thanks to holography, the beam is projected out to infinity, paralax-free. The best example of this is on weapon sights, with the relatively new EOTech holographic sights you can move your head around, but so long as you are able to see through the sight, the reticle will remain on the target (the reticle will appear to move to compensate for your own motion).
So long as that is the method they go with, all should be fine and dandy with concern to movement of the driver within the vehicle, and the technology is pretty cheap so far as I know; they've been able to scale it down to fit on a rifle, and it only costs around $500.
Great, even easier... for grandpa to end up on the train tracks
If "Grandpa" is ending up on the tracks because of a little red line, maybe they shouldn't be driving in the first place.
I for one, think that its an awesome idea!
What I want to know now is the excuses people will come up with when they follow the Virtual Cable into a river or swamp. I mean this is displayed on the windshield...
Well it might tell them to go into a swamp. But we all know that they're going to follow it into oncoming traffic LONG BEFORE they get to the swamp :p.
Pacman anyone?
Unless they've found a way to bend laser light using those mirrors you won't be seeing that curved line going around the corner...
The laser doesn't bend!!!
The mirrors rapidly scan out a curved line, so the curved line is a single point where the laser meets the windscreen. This single points moves fast enough to appear to make a single line.
After 3 Long Island Ice Teas I see those lines while I'm driving.
Don't drink and drive please....
Unless you are drink and driving around those who follow their GPS into the river... Its Darwinism!
Well, so long as you follow those lines you see straight into a wall at 70 MPH without hitting anyone else, that's great! If road scum like you can kill yourselves, it makes the road for people with common sense like us a safer place to be.
I think he was joking....sheesh people
Wow. It was clearly a joke!
Cool! I think people will be slightly less likely to drive into bodies of water or houses--since they'll actually be looking out rather than down. If I saw the line going through a house, I might be less likely to trust the GPS.
cool, how about some ultra sonic sensors to detect cards and obstructions and then just let the car drive itself?
I agree. Head on collisions with cards is the #1 cause of automobile fatalities. I know I almost got hit by an 8 of hearts the other day.
what kind of name is Making Virtual Solid. Sounds like a rockband.
Sounds more like a Laxative from engrish named kompany :p
Did anyone notice that the third video looks exactly like the first one, only darker?
Haha, it is. Well done noticing it.
It IS the same video. If you look at the shadows from the sun in the first and look at the shadows in the third they are the same. The light pole shadow is stationary right before the turn. This suggests a stationary light source not headlights from a moving car.
It's hard to think of this not as vaporware if they are faking their demonstrations this early in the game. Hey could have at least said "simulated" as a disclaimer. Makes me think the entire thing is just in the idea stage with good video editing software.
^^^ The menu states "Simulation Videos"
They needs to be dots instead of lines and through the speakers you hear that famous BUCKA, BUCKA, BUCKA, BUCKA, BUCKA sound as the dots disappear.
I think you mean WACKA WACKA WACKA WACKA WACKA.
I've always heard it as WAKKA WAKKA WAKKA.
NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM
Speed Up! The Ghost Is Behind Us!
I'm not buying an OEM nav system until auto manufacturers STOP making me buy leather seats, and sunroof and satellite radio with it. What is with those people? Why don't they just let me equip my car the way I want it?
The more different combinations of options you're allowed to choose from, the more different vehicles need to be built, and the more the car company's costs go up.
The fact of the matter is, the people who want a nav system are very likely to be the same people who want leather seats. So combining them and saving on costs makes sense.
I believe Scion does what you mentioned..
It's been a long time coming but this is going to be one of the best ways to guide flying cars (or whatever you want to call them). Be in the sky there it would be costly/impractical to have a center line. (Think Back to the Future 2).
@ Dave: I know what you mean about looking out the window but I can't help thinking that because people see the line, they will just follow it around corner's without consideration to give way rules. :(
Cue news story about someone who followed the red line right into another car in 32.. 2... 1...
You missed 31 through 3
If it actually is accurately superimposed over the road it wins my Best Gadget of the Year reward.
Award, reward, same dif...
Someone plows into a house, "Well the lines said this was the turn off!"
Haha, I saw this a few hours ago, and you know what's funny? That's literally 5 minutes walking distance from where I live. I watched the video, said, "Huh..." and sure enough, it's the nearby traffic circle. Weird.
Yeah, something like this would be very helpful in South NJ with all those jug-handles and crazy traffic circles. Driving through NJ with GPS is already tricky.
This is exactly what GPS systems need. I think that this is what the perfected GPS has. Only the interface might need to be improved. the only thing easier would be the car driving you to your destination.
Hmm...I am an idiot...I should probably read more...
Ha! I must live in the same town as the company is located, because one of those 3 videos was filmed not 5 miles from my house.
Imagine getting a rock chip on your brand new 3d Nav Wind Shield.
"I just bought the car, and now i have to pay $4000 to get a rock chip fixed. Yah $4000, it's because of that new fangled 3D Nav."
Also, anyone else think this would make it seem as if one were playing GTA?
Thats the game that comes to mind when I think of 3d Nav in the Windshield itself.
After playing GTA for extended periods of time, i DO have a tendency to drive up onto the curb and not make any effort to avoid pedestrians.
"Imagine getting a rock chip on your brand new 3d Nav Wind Shield."
The windshield isn't what's special. The system uses lasers to project the red line onto the windshield. So it's a totally passive component in the system.
Lets just hope it doesn't ever crash, or else it would be giving "Blue screen of death" a whole new meaning.
Pontiac did something like this in the early 90s with the speedometer heads-up display projected onto the windshield, very much like Knight-Rider. Not terribly useful but cool nonetheless.
http://www.dupont.com/safetyglass/lgn/stories/zimages/1004z.jpg
yea, there have been numerous HUD displays, Cadillac has one that is tied into a night vision camera in the front of the car...
Build this into my Nolan N-102 and I'll give you my first born!
Wow. Someone definitely lost his sense of humor.
I'd prefer a large, stylized yellow arrow pointing directly to my destination, with a small birds eye view of my immediate surroundings in the bottom right corner of the windshield.
Uhhhhhhh....
"It has low power consumption (< 20W continous) yet it can be visible against the sky or snow on a sunny day (its brightness is automatically adjusted based on the ambient light)."
20 WATTS?!
Well consumer laser devices are usually rated at the miliwatt level. Your average legal hand held laser pointer is only a mere 5mw. At 300mw on a handheld you can burn through items. At a full watt of laser power you can cut through steel.
Guess what I'm saying is that you don't need that much power to achieve a lot out of a laser system. 20w sounds about right for an electronic gadget circuitry and laser needs of that scope me thinks.
Another advantage for Illegal Aliens to maneuver around this country without the hassle of stopping and asking a police officer in a sanctuary city where to sign up for foodstamps, unemployment benefits and free medical care.
Yea.. I know I'm way off base with this comment, but I just couldn't resist.. Sorry if I offended anyone, but if one person found it humorous, it was worth it!
I for one welcome our time saving guidance redline overlords!
So does the system automatically detect the direction the driver is looking, so that the perspective can be adapted? Otherwise, the 3D image projected by this gadget will be plain wrong...
yeah, "forward". because it projects on the windshield, not your cornea.
Very Donnie Darko - follow the red light to the demon bunny...
Given that as a man, I never get lost, why would I need this?
However, as a man, I must have cool gadgets, I need this.
How does one resolve this paradox?
I like it because it is clean and simple display.
Just follow the red line.
But from watching the videos I noticed I was looking up. It might be better if they could make the line look like it was superimposed onto the road itself. This might be better especially for older drivers.
One way of making this move to the next generation would be to add windshield overlays for other information, e.g. how fast the car in front of you is driving, the names of streets labelled above them so you never miss a turn. inevitably there'll be some 3rd party plugins to do things like "spot hitchikers" or give traffic information for each road leading out of a junction.
Wouldn't it be easier to follow if the line was projected as if it was actually on the road instead of hovering above it?
You know, like most people are used to following the lines on the road. Or at least staying between them.
How do they compensate for drift? If you swerve a bit the line would still be pointed straight ahead. If your car pitches down the line would pitch down. They might be able to make it holographic to compensate for your head's parallax but do they also intend to integrate inertial sensors and gyros to compensate for the bumps and orientation of the vehicle?
This is all well and good until someone puts a dead body on your roof and a stream of blood trickles down and confuses you which way to go.