New BMW NightVision...

[genphreak]

http://www.automotoportal.com/articl...t_Vision_video

Notice in the video how the driver is watching the road, **not** the display in the dash?

That is because they didn't want it to be soooo obvious that this is just another dash-mounted gizmo that distracts the driver and causes accidents. In real life it sells cars and justifies a TV screen in the dash.

BMW have lost it big time- I fear they are looking for any way possible to justify their 'jetsons dash' with its mid-mount TFT game console cum tv cum safety device.

We get one of the worst road-borne hazards- people play road-roulette with Kangaroos daily here in Australia. There is no lighting on the country highways.

Typically when seeing a roo on or beside the road you have 2 seconds before it gets confused and turns around, jumping 6 feet per hop directly at you when (you thought it was actually about to move back into the bush at the side of the road). Even if you could see them clear as day, you'd barely have time to avoid the little beggars- most people get 2 seconds- or less (it is so confusing for everyone, as they tend to hang around in 'mobs' of about 6-20 individuals. When you see one there's always many more you can't see either about to bounce accross the road or leap out of the grass (whre they are perfectly camouflaged) in absolute panic.

Statistically you are more likely to hit one of the 'roos you can't see. Most people drive off the road so can end up badly injured too.

I drive in the country a fair bit. The key is to look for the areas they tend to be in (river crossings and wooded areas, etc) perhaps even be very careful slow down just in case.

If I had night vision like that I'd have no time to react after seeing 'something' in the display (out of the corner of my eye). I'd be spending precious time registering, calculating whatr to do, let alone mapping it to the screen adn then actually brake or swerve. By then its time to **** yer pants and pray the roo doesn't come trhough the windscreen and end up injured in the car beside you- you'd be kicked to death in seconds and worse, your interior would be totalled within 2 more.

All most people would do is look for the 'thing' like this and by the time they actually see it or go to slow down it'd be just too late.

This 'kind' of technology will be good as a warning system that uses heads up display to show on the screen where a potential hazard is so you get a chance to react. It would need to be heat sensing and apply some biometric processing before alerting you to every roadside object. Even then most drivers would probably screw up trying to take notice of what it says.

A very noble cause, but stry from BMW surely this is a waste of an approach: The more we hide in our cars behind creature comforts and safety technologies, the more of us will get rudely awakened; torn up and choking within a burning, distributed wreckage at the side of the road. BMW USA will need new lawyers too. (I can hear the chorus of customers litigating: "...but this is not what the salesman said would happen...") which of course is why it is not a heads-up display as that would be virtually impossible to defend form a suit claiming it contributed to an accident (as it probably would!)

If they wait a few year biometric processing will really be able to help, not distract. Now for all I know this thing is a bit smarter than an IR camera, but the display in the dash is pointless. A warning is a good thing, but one's eyes simply have to stay firmly on the road in dark conditions...