Thread: GM's high tech windshield

Fine if you want to watch all your videos and games in bright blue I suppose.

I once tried to bring "Enhanced Reality" downto car @ Uni... Bad Idea. It always disturbs the driver, one has to make sure there no dirt on the screen cause even rain causes glitches & weird reflection. Drivers tend to trust more and more the "enhanced part " of the screen as times is passing by. When the computer gives up, they are lost and need roughly two seconds to pay attention again to the (low lit / poorly defined) road. Plus, as shown in the picture,"enhanced parts are always brighter, thus killing eyes' adapt to low light conditions.

You make some very good points there. When we trust technology to do everything for us, we forget how to do it ourselves, and that is bad. Case in point: My son just graduated high school and he is extremely good in math and intends to major in math. The problem is, when high schools teach math, they are really teaching how to use a calculator or computer rather than the fundamentals of mathematics. For every student that "gets it", there are probably 50 who pass only because the can use a calculator.

The same holds true for reliance on techonology for driver assistance. Drivers are bad enough as it is. Just think how it would be if everyone relied on something like this windshield and it was off by just maybe a meter showing the edge of the road.

I think researchers will overcome the problems you described (rain, dirt, etc) but they will never over the human interface.

Another thing I thought of is how does it determine when the road edge is in relation to where you are sitting? Some drivers are tall, some are short, some sit up straight, some lean to one side or the other. What happens when you have been driving for a while and shift your position to get comfortable?

I think there are far too many what ifs to make this feasible in the near future.

Still it is a cool idea but the intent--to keep drivers who can't see on the road--is a bad idea!!! There are already too many folks on the road who's brain is asleep.

Originally Posted by Dan2008

You make some very good points there. When we trust technology to do everything for us, we forget how to do it ourselves, and that is bad. Case in point: My son just graduated high school and he is extremely good in math and intends to major in math. The problem is, when high schools teach math, they are really teaching how to use a calculator or computer rather than the fundamentals of mathematics. For every student that "gets it", there are probably 50 who pass only because the can use a calculator.

The same holds true for reliance on techonology for driver assistance. Drivers are bad enough as it is. Just think how it would be if everyone relied on something like this windshield and it was off by just maybe a meter showing the edge of the road.

I think researchers will overcome the problems you described (rain, dirt, etc) but they will never over the human interface.

Another thing I thought of is how does it determine when the road edge is in relation to where you are sitting? Some drivers are tall, some are short, some sit up straight, some lean to one side or the other. What happens when you have been driving for a while and shift your position to get comfortable?

I think there are far too many what ifs to make this feasible in the near future.

Still it is a cool idea but the intent--to keep drivers who can't see on the road--is a bad idea!!! There are already too many folks on the road who's brain is asleep.

Yeah, may I had some people (like mom) truely hate technology. You're totally exact about simple moves to get confortable. One can't demand a lamba person to accept what Jetfighter pilots have to.

When i was in school I'd learn how to do the math, program the calculator to do it all for me (and show the "work") and forget about the equation after that.