Due to sunlight, many drivers lose focus for a short time, and consequences can be tragic. The traditional sun visor is not equipped to adequately address this safety problem. In the best case, it partially blocks the sun, but along with it, part of the vision is also hindered.
The German company Bosch presents at CES Las Vegas, a transparent LCD screen that uses artificial intelligence to protect drivers from the sun’s rays. It is a technology that blocks the sun just when it hits the front. Wonderful, right?
Bosch Virtual Visor is a transparent LCD screen that mounts in place of the panel you are currently using to keep the sun away from the wheel. The screen uses a monitoring camera to trace the shadow on the faces of the passengers seated in the front.
Artificial intelligence recognizes details of the face, such as the nose, ears, and mouth, and uses this data to dye the parts through which it detects the sun‘s emergence. Finally, this creates a shadow, which resembles a mask that allows the driver and his companion to travel without any discomfort. The rest remains transparent. The most important thing, by the way, is that whoever is behind the wheel does not lose sight of the road.
While this invention may seem relatively minor compared to other major advances, Bosch – who knows about this – predicts that his latest product will have a strong impact on safety, especially at sunrise and sunset. Its investigations establish that the sun in the driver causes almost twice as many accidents as any other weather-related condition.
Currently, the Virtual Visor is in the testing phase, but Bosch says it has advanced conversations with its manufacturing partners so that it becomes a serial element and appears in day-to-day vehicles. This is what we might well call the technology at the service of people.