[ChiragM]

14-year old Alaina Gassler has won the US$ 25,000 Samueli Foundation Prize for her project which removes A-pillar blind spots. Called “Improving Automobile Safety by Removing Blind Spots”, her project was submitted at the Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology, and Engineering for Rising Stars) competition.



To remove blind spots caused by the A-pillar, Gassler placed a webcam outside the car on A-pillar, which fed live images to a projector placed just above the driver's head. The projector projects the image on to the A-pillar, which is lined with a retro reflective fabric. It is said that the material reflects the light back to the light source. As the projector is placed close to the driver, the driver can clearly see the image on the A-Pillar. The driver gets an uninterrupted view of the other side of the A-pillar while the passenger only sees the fabric.

The prototype was tested on her family’s Jeep Grand Cherokee. Future prototypes are expected to use LCD displays to improve visibility during the day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxlN...ature=youtu.be

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[sgiitk]

Absolutely brilliant. The young lady deserves all kudos.

[Jeroen]

Interesting and clever idea. Good for her!

I wonder how it works if you change the driver's position, i.e. the angle at which you view the A-pillar

Jeroen

[Reinhard]

This is brilliant! Well done young mind! The new generations sure are sharper at doing things.

I think in fine tuning this, the items that need work will be ensuring the projection is limited to just the A pillar dimensions of specific car to avoid distracting glare on the windshields or ORVMs.

Also would be interesting to see what effect this has when driving at night. A projector gives out constantly changing/flickering bright light.

[rajivr1612]

Brilliant idea. Maybe auto companies can use the entire A pillar as a display unit projecting things behind it. The entire A pillar will be then rendered invisible from inside the cabin.

[NST440]

God bless the child for addressing a problem with such thought. Reminds me of times when we being kids were inquisitive about how to find a solution or "juggad" to a problem and come up with a creative solution .

Few months back I was at a science and tech fest in one of the renowned University's of North and students had come up with all sorts of solutions related to automotive, electrical and electronics to name a few. I guess " koi baat nahi" and "chalta hai" attitude is a sad gift of age which we all conveniently term as maturity.

[Guna]

It may sound silly but I had thought about a similar solution many years ago I got the idea after I read about the 'see through' train, which I think was invented by Mercedes.

[condor]

Originally Posted by Guna

It may sound silly but I had thought about a similar solution many years ago .

We have discussed this and other solutions quite recently here on TBHP.

But neither you nor we went for patenting the idea

[vaasscit]

Not taking anything away from the kid, but this idea isn't new.

Jaguar showcased this "Transparent A Pillar" in 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c98h...ture=emb_title

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by vaasscit

Not taking anything away from the kid, but this idea isn't new.

Jaguar showcased this "Transparent A Pillar" in 2014.

They extended this to the rear view mirror which doubles as a mirror or a screen when car has many passengers or fully loaded.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUda1eojUAQ

[am1m]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

14-year old Alaina Gassler has won the US$ 25,000 Samueli Foundation Prize for her project...Gassler placed a webcam outside the car on A-pillar, which fed live images to a projector placed just above the driver's head. The projector projects the image on to the A-pillar, which is lined with a retro reflective fabric. The prototype was tested on her family’s Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Originally Posted by vaasscit

Jaguar showcased this "Transparent A Pillar" in 2014.

Awesome that in 5 years the tech has been 'consumerized', going from a huge international automotive brand to a teenager's project. Brilliant execution! Hopefully will become standard in cars soon.

[TECHNIKER]

Jaguar showcased this "Transparent A Pillar" in 2014. See what happens at 0.35.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBN5CWMcOnE

Auto Tech is on to this already & using it intelligently , If I may.

On the other point of view, kids these day are having intelligent thoughts & hats off to such parents who indulge in them & support them.

[qaqa]

Awesome idea!

This is such an elegant solution to a common problem. Coming from an EcoSport I'm very familiar with the A pillar blind spot problem.

The issue will be in implementation. The image to be displayed on the A-pillar will need to change based on the angle from which the driver is seeing it. This will be based on seat position, driver position, head position etc. Would be interesting to see what kind of position tracking mechanism would be in place for this.

[puneeth2]

A great idea and kudos to her for coming up with this.

There might be a few challenges that need to be addressed if it were to be used in production. The most important one I could think of it is stated below.

• Considering the viewer's position. Assuming that only the driver's perspective is taken into consideration. The image shown on the A-pillar should move with respect to the driver's line of sight. (Parallax, I guess)

[Guna]

Originally Posted by condor

We have discussed this and other solutions quite recently here on TBHP.

But neither you nor we went for patenting the idea

OK, I was not aware . Well, I don't know if only an idea can be patented. Patenting costs lot of money and it is also safe only in some countries.