The car’s dashboard lets the driver see information like their speed, petrol, temperature, RPM, and etc, but it seems that BMW is trying to reinvent the dashboard by creating a pair of augmented reality driving glasses aimed at Mini drivers. At the moment this is more of a concept than an actual product, but from what we can tell, it has its merits.
For starters the glasses will display the same information like we mentioned earlier. However it can display additional information such as navigational information so that drivers can see where it is they need to turn and so on. It will also be able to display incoming calls or notifications which the driver can then choose to answer/reject via controls on the steering wheel.
Now admittedly this does seem like information that could prove a distraction to the driver, however looking at your phone’s screen to see who’s calling, or looking at your GPS unit for directions can be just as distracting, so it’s really up to BMW to design the interface in such a way where it won’t be distracting to the driver and at the same time letting them see the road in front of them.
The glasses will also be able to take things further by giving drivers “X-ray vision”. Basically by looking left/right at their side mirrors, which have cameras installed in them, drivers will be able to check out blind spots through the glasses. It will also help with parallel parking which for some can be a nightmare. Like we said this is more of a concept at the moment and according to the folks at Mashable, the prototype they tried out got hot after 15 minutes of use, indicating that there’s plenty of work left to be done.
There’s no word on if and when BMW will turn this prototype into an actual product, but we have to say that we’re intrigued.
Filed in . Read more about Augmented Reality (AR), Bmw and Wearable Tech.