Art Lebedev's Transparentius eliminates opacity, improves road safety
By Vlad Savov 
posted December 22nd 2009 6:07AM
posted December 22nd 2009 6:07AM
[Thanks, Dennis]
posted December 22nd 2009 6:07AM
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Transparentius? Sounds like an incantation from a Harry Potter movie...
@Shane That's a pretty silly comment, really. Harry Potter tries to use very real "Latin-esque" words in the incantations rather than saying "bippity-boppity-boo", thus giving a suggestion of what the incantation does. It's clever.
The name of this concept is doing likewise.
Why make fun of "intelligent" use of language?
@(Unverified)
Riley - "These spells, they really work? I mean, can you really turn your enemies inside out? Or... learn to excrete gold coins."
Anya - "That one's not so much fun."
Willow - "They work, Riley, but they take concentration. Being attuned with the forces of the universe."
Xander - "Right, you can't just go 'librum incendere' and expect --"
[The book catches on fire; Xander closes it rapidly.]
Giles - "(wearily) Xander, don't speak Latin in front of the books."
What's wrong with the car-trucker light-blinker protocol? I thought it was pretty universal.
I wonder if Engadget cares that Lebedev snuck an obscenity into the image.
worst idea ever,
1. you don't really get how long the truck actually is
2. You'll have the tendency wanting to overtake every turck = dangerous
I'm sorry but these guys aren't as smart as they think. Or maybe too smart to have ever worked on a loading dock.
Even if you could come up with a cost effective way of building this here is your problem....
These doors get beat to death.
Truck drivers slam them open and closed.
Dock worker slam them open and closed.
Most rear doors are roll-up and get slammed up and closed.
These trailers are parked for months on end in the worst parts of your town. (re: thieves).
Nice try by some guys that never had to work at a real job.
Err, doesn't double continuous line mean "no passing" ?
And if you can see what's ahead, shouldn't you :
A - not pass this truck
B - respect a safety distance
C - slow down in case of uncertainty
And the back of the truck could display :
- ads
- youtube or other videos distracting you
- the actual road ahead ... but with 5 seconds delay
This is simply a stupid idea.
@AWx Couldn't have said it better myself.
Were this to be real, the way things are going these days, some genius will put a glossy screen on the back of this thing.
@Kesey
Right on spot. Not to mention a wide screen.
Because you can't have too much of a wide thing, can you?
why bother writing a story on such a fake photo?
Maybe they should give the technology to tanks ... that way the enemies can't see them
This design has been done on other things. This is the first time I have seen it applied to a truck though.
Lame idea.
I can see people now. They'll be driving down the road, already distracted by their text message or phone call. And they'll be staring at the back of this truck trying to figure out the illusiion. When BAMM they're headless because they didn't stop in time to avoid running up the rear end of this truck...
The reg plate is funny)))
Lebedev was in bad mood?
Art Lebedev could take a crap in a box and withing 10 minutes there would be an article on Engadget saying how wonderful it is.
If this was ever put into production the movement of the truck would mean that image swung around when it went round corners and wobbled as it hit bumps. Really distracting and would probably make a driver behind feel sick.
Plus, as mentioned by others - cost and durability.
It seems like this would only be a good solution to this problem if it literally allowed you to see through the truck, from whatever angle you're viewing. Like in the example, the truck is curving with the road, but the camera is taking a picture of what is directly in front of the truck. It seems like it would be distracting/confusing, because you would have two separate viewing angles of the road directly in front of you.
How about reversing it so the truck drivers don't have a Blind spot?
like 80% of a truckers side vision is non-existent.
MINI Coopers of the world will rejoice when this comes to pass. Nothing worse than being behind some gigantic vehicle you can't see beyond.
When the truck is going straight (seeing ahead not necessary), you could run video ads on the screens, which would in turn pay for their installation cost.
Great idea.
How about we find a way to have less trucks on the road?
@capwkidd Yeah, I hate those momentary inconveniences like passing a truck! Who cares about such frivolous things as ... ... affordable food!
Hm... just so that you know when those tanks are rolling down the highway, eh?
Yes tanks do sometimes roll down the highway, and idiots do then sometimes tailgate them at 65Mph, not realizing that when a tank breaks it stops instantly and when someone rearends it they won't be bothered much but the person that did that is permanently encased in metal and will have to be buried with the car as a packet, the good news is that the car will then fit in a standard coffin.
Caution--look out for giant splattered bugs and guano, straight ahead!
That made me lol.
But what are you gonna about the psycho f0ck riding up front on the CB with Paul Walk whisper sweet nothings about "Motels and Pink Champagne"?
But what are you gonna about the psycho f0ck riding up front on the CB with Paul Walker whispering sweet nothings about "Motels and Pink Champagne"?
Why the hell is that MBT so small in comparison with that tiny double axle trucky?
How about projecting an image....image quality is not ultra important in this instance, (in fact a degraded image quality might in this case be beneficial), equipment cost can possibly be done for $1000 or less think how cool a night vision projection of the road up ahead could be.
just started practicing driving. 18-wheelers scare me more than any other potential hazard. this will go a long way towards assuaging my fear, and doubtless that of many others.
now, about that damn black ice...and the deer...eh, can't hope for too much.
Pretty awesome idea.
Hey.. why does the Prius need to know there's a tank in front of the truck?
The only thing I could see that's useful would be knowing the status of the traffic light in front of the truck.
Too often, the truck in front of me has run the yellow into the red, and I don't see the signal until the truck is mostly past, and I'm stuck running the red.
This will never get implimented, though without government regulation. Good luck with that.
Or we could get these things off the road and go back to rail.
It makes me feel good to know there are people out there WAY smarter and more imaginative at problem-solving than I. But I think the cheap way is to grab a cheap cheap camera and just use red LED signboard. Seriously nowhere on earth (that you want to regularly drive) are you going to see legalized multi-colored lighting on the front OR rear of vehicles. It only has to be good enough, and using all-red will make it legal enough too.
id pass the crap outta that! yessss
Now all that needs to happen, is to have someone hack that display, and start playing video games while driving dangerously close behind the semi!
Any of you guys ever seen a truck? Tell you what — they're mostly dirty!
Brilliant!!! And if you survive the rear end crash into the trailer, you can explain that the roadway looked clear in your lane if there was no vehicle in front of the rig.
@lamplighter
The rear bumper on this truck looks like something you might actually survive a crash into. Nice safety feature.
I don't need 1080p but more information is a good idea.
How about " accelerating" lights when a truck sees open road for itself and "coasting" lights when approaching congestion.
Maybe a display in my car could give a representation of what's ahead, maybe an aerial view, gps style, with information wi-fi'd from the truck.
Keep thinking people! All the answers haven't been found yet.
This would work if the expensive and fragile displays are replaced by bluetooth/wifi feed from the cameras. Of course you need laptop to see ahead of truck.