Teen's Invention to Eliminate Car Pillar Blind Spots

[easysurfer]

My favorite news story of the day:

A 14-year-old from West Grove, Pennsylvania, won a US$25,000 prize for creating a prototype designed to eliminate a car's blind spots.
Alaina Gassler told CNN she first noticed the problem when she realized her mom didn't like driving their family's Jeep Grand Cherokee because its A-pillars caused blind spots.

The A-pillar design in a car supports the windshield and provides protection in case of a crash. However, their size and angle also create blind spots, the area of the road not visible to drivers from their usual sitting position or rear-view and side mirrors.

"There are so many car accidents and injuries and deaths that could've been prevented from a pillar not being there," Gassler said in her Society for Science video. "And since we can't take it off cars, I decided to get rid of it without getting rid of it."
Gassler's project uses a webcam, projector, 3D printed adapter and retroreflective fabric to make a car's A-pillars invisible by displaying the image of the blind spot behind them onto the pillar.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/tee...4673098?cache=yes?autoPlay=true?clipId=104059


Simply amazing as I can relate to some close calls when I was just getting used to my car with the pillar blind spots.

 

[Mdlerth]

Finally, someone invents X-ray specs that work!

Very creative. Good for her.

It will probably be standard equipment by the time I buy my next car in 15 years.

 

[NW-Bound]

Is she still 14 in the video? A tall 14-year-old!

Very creative. Good for her.

It will probably be standard equipment by the time I buy my next car in 15 years.

Some people say that in 15 years, you don't even have the steering wheel anymore in the self-driving cars.

Heck, Musk promised to have the current Tesla 3 upgraded to be driverless taxis running all over the country, by the end of next year.

 

[JoeWras]

Nice. A-pillar blind spots are a growing problem. It isn't just crash protection. It is also the air bags. DW curses at her car over this problem.

The days of rollover death traps are done. But man, those were some cool cars.

 

[Walt34]

Very creative. Good for her.

It will probably be standard equipment by the time I buy my next car in 15 years.

Agree, way cool and good for her! Although hopefully it won't take 15 years to be made standard. I can see it might need some refining to adjust for daytime/nighttime lighting issues but that isn't insurmountable.

And she ought to be able to retire early from it if she wants to, that's always nice to have that option in your back pocket, even in your 20's.

 

[NW-Bound]

Clever design, but is she the first?

See a photo from an article published in 2018. And it mentioned that Jaguar demonstrated something similar in 2014. There are multiple designs to attack the same problem, and many patents already filed for different implementations.

See: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/continental-see-through-a-pillars-cameras-oled/

 

[Dtail]

Nice. A-pillar blind spots are a growing problem. It isn't just crash protection. It is also the air bags. DW curses at her car over this problem.

The days of rollover death traps are done. But man, those were some cool cars.

No Corvair?

 

[pb4uski]

Very creative. Good for her. ...

Great idea.

 

[pb4uski]

Nice. A-pillar blind spots are a growing problem. It isn't just crash protection. It is also the air bags. DW curses at her car over this problem.

The days of rollover death traps are done. But man, those were some cool cars.

I wonder if this design could be used with new stronger, thinner materials that we have today vs 50+ years ago.

 

[ERD50]

Clever design, but is she the first? ...

Yes, this is clever, but it also didn't strike me as something that would not have already been investigated. I think the word "invention" gets thrown around a bit too lightly.

I'm still impressed that she got all the components together and built a working model (though I'm not sure to what degree, we just get a quick clip). That's pretty impressive, esp for a 15 year old.

I also have to wonder if it can really be effective in real life. Move your head around, and if that camera doesn't track that and display the shifted image, you are going to have a disorienting shifted/doubled image. It might be worse than the blind spot.

And I also wonder about a projector in different light conditions? Washed out? Too bright other times?

The A pillars in our car aren't really so large, I'll make a point of trying to notice if I think this is an issue for me. Offhand, it doesn't seem like something that's bothered me. I have blind spot detectors on my side mirrors, I wish those had a camera for a better view. And the big old mirror with the built in wiper sensors and everything does block some overhead signs.

I've read about cars with 360 cameras? I need to check those out.

-ERD50

 

[easysurfer]

Clever design, but is she the first?

See a photo from an article published in 2018. And it mentioned that Jaguar demonstrated something similar in 2014. There are multiple designs to attack the same problem, and many patents already filed for different implementations.

See: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/continental-see-through-a-pillars-cameras-oled/

I'm all in. But big question of the how is how to the cameras know to make the projection the proper proportion to the object behind the pillar?

 

[JoeWras]

I wonder if this design could be used with new stronger, thinner materials that we have today vs 50+ years ago.

I would bet so, EXCEPT the pillars now also contain electronics and air bags.

The A pillars in our car aren't really so large, I'll make a point of trying to notice if I think this is an issue for me. Offhand, it doesn't seem like something that's bothered me.

I read in some car magazine that A-Pillar accidents are increasing, particularly in one very specific type. It is the type on rural roads where two cars are approaching an intersection from 90 degrees. Their speeds match such that the other car is in the A-pillar perfectly for a long time. The driver(s) gets complacent and a collision occurs at the intersection.

There's a name for this... I forget what it is called.
<google search occurs>
Well, lookee here! An actual scholarly study called "Forward Looking Blindspots: A report of A-Pillar induced field-of-view obstruction and driver performance in a simulated rural environment". Whew.

https://www.lrrb.org/pdf/200216.pdf

Blindspots occur when the driver’s field of view is compromised as a result of the obscured line of sight produced by the support pillar on either side of the windshield. This differs from the “traditional” concept of the rear-view blindspot. With a support pillar (A-pillar) width of approximately 10cm, the line of sight extended out 150m can produce a blindspot of sufficient size to “hide” a vehicle or several vehicles approaching an intersection from either the left or right of the direction of the approaching vehicle. This obscured region enables an approaching vehicle to remain hidden for an extended time due to coincident acceleration or deceleration. This interaction holds serious implications for real world events as well as research results in traffic interactions.

 

[NW-Bound]

I'm all in. But big question of the how is how to the cameras know to make the projection the proper proportion to the object behind the pillar?

The magnification can be calibrated, from the camera optics to the reproduction of the image on the pillar, in order for the image to be of the right size.

Still, the view will only be correct from the driver's perspective, ie. the passengers will see the image not registering correctly.

Plus, if the driver moves her head, the image will also be wrong, unless there's a head-position tracker used by a computer to compensate.

All this complication will add to the cost.

 

[Walt34]

The A pillars in our car aren't really so large, I'll make a point of trying to notice if I think this is an issue for me. Offhand, it doesn't seem like something that's bothered me.

Generally it doesn't bother me either. But the closest I ever came to being at-fault in an accident was when a motorcycle was behind the pillar and I almost pulled out in front of him.

Being a former rider myself I make a point to look for motorcycles. This time the timing and speeds hit that "magic spot" so that even when I moved my head to look around the pillar the bike moved so as to stay concealed behind it. It was only when I moved my head back and prepared to enter the intersection that I saw him in peripheral vision. Scared the daylights out of me.

While that's certainly not an everyday occurrence it certainly got my attention. And it is no stretch to think that young lady's invention would go a long way to address the issue.

 

[easysurfer]

When first owning my car with the pillars, I almost a pedestrian over just me trying to make a turn. Flat out didn't see him til the last second. Others I know say they really don't notice the pillar that much.

Must be my positioning of the seat or something at creates a big blind spot.

To compensate now, with familiarity, I know to bob and weave my head like Muhammad Ali during a boxing match if needed to get a clear view

 

[ERD50]

...
Well, lookee here! An actual scholarly study called "Forward Looking Blindspots: A report of A-Pillar induced field-of-view obstruction and driver performance in a simulated rural environment". Whew.

https://www.lrrb.org/pdf/200216.pdf

OK, so it sounds like they are talking about a vehicle/person approaching in-line with that pillar. That would hide it until it was pretty close. I'll make a note of that on my next drive. In the video, they showed cars crossing the pillar - it would have been more effective to show one approaching from behind the pillar.

The magnification can be calibrated, from the camera optics to the reproduction of the image on the pillar, in order for the image to be of the right size.

Still, the view will only be correct from the driver's perspective, ie. the passengers will see the image not registering correctly.

Plus, if the driver moves her head, the image will also be wrong, unless there's a head-position tracker used by a computer to compensate.

All this complication will add to the cost.

Yes, and I don't think any of that was a part of this demo. Which is OK, she is 15 after all (it's more impressive than anything I was doing at that age!). But I think some people are maybe making too much of this. With today's tech, connecting a camera to a projector is literally plug-and-play. They said something about 3-D printing a screen, maybe small prisms to help keep the image directional to the driver? Pretty clever.

-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

...

To compensate now, with familiarity, I know to bob and weave my head like Muhammad Ali during a boxing match if needed to get a clear view

Now that you mention it, I probably do that w/o even being aware of it.

I wonder if just a flashing LED to warn of a presence in that zone wouldn't get us 90% of the benefit w/o all the complications?

-ERD50

 

[corn18]

I'd pay extra for that on the A & B pillars. Would also love to have that feature where the rear view mirror shows a camera view when your view is blocked by cargo. My wife's BMW SUV has the 360 deg overhead camera view and that is way cool for tight spots.

 

[easysurfer]

I'd pay extra for that on the A & B pillars. Would also love to have that feature where the rear view mirror shows a camera view when your view is blocked by cargo. My wife's BMW SUV has the 360 deg overhead camera view and that is way cool for tight spots.

I would pay extra for that feature too.

 

[NW-Bound]

Yes, and I don't think any of that was a part of this demo. Which is OK, she is 15 after all (it's more impressive than anything I was doing at that age!). But I think some people are maybe making too much of this. With today's tech, connecting a camera to a projector is literally plug-and-play. They said something about 3-D printing a screen, maybe small prisms to help keep the image directional to the driver? Pretty clever.

-ERD50

It may be impressive for a 14-year-old, but the idea has been done before. She did it with mostly devices, such as an off-the-shelf camera and projector, but a practical solution has to be done using the pillar itself as the image generator, such as the small OLED screen demonstrated by Continental in the photo I linked to in a post earlier.

And I found the Jaguar's implementation back in 2014, as mentioned in the above article.

PS. Jaguar's video is a conceptual demo, not real hardware.

Read more about this research project here: https://media.jaguarlandrover.com/e...ent-pillar-and-follow-me-ghost-car-navigation.

 

[JoeWras]

I wonder if just a flashing LED to warn of a presence in that zone wouldn't get us 90% of the benefit w/o all the complications?

There's the invention. Let's write it up!

Seriously, cheap, easy and makes the point. There would have to be some processing behind it, though.

Hiding a pedestrian while waiting at a light? Gotta catch that.

Hiding a moving motorcycle that is in phase with your car? Different, but still gotta catch that.

Hiding a moving cars at the rural intersection? Gotta catch that.

So, yeah, I like the idea of the LED, but I think a lot of processing power has to be behind it. Nothing that Waymo probably hasn't done already.

 

[NW-Bound]

I am still waiting for Musk to deliver full self-driving on the Tesla Model 3 by next year.

When there is no human driver, who cares about what is hidden behind any pillars? You can just draw the curtains shut, or turn a knob to make the windows all opaque and go to sleep until the car delivers you to your destination.

If he is successful, all these projects by other companies, and the companies too, will be blown to smithereens.

 

[ERD50]

There's the invention. Let's write it up!

Seriously, cheap, easy and makes the point. There would have to be some processing behind it, though.

Hiding a pedestrian while waiting at a light? Gotta catch that.

Hiding a moving motorcycle that is in phase with your car? Different, but still gotta catch that.

Hiding a moving cars at the rural intersection? Gotta catch that.

So, yeah, I like the idea of the LED, but I think a lot of processing power has to be behind it. Nothing that Waymo probably hasn't done already.

Yes, it would take some processing power to ID things in the pillar blind spot. But we already have that tech in blind spot detectors and rear view crossing detectors today that seem pretty effective. And the camera/projection/display unit would require some processing power to detect head movement.

-ERD50

 

[easysurfer]

I am still waiting for Musk to deliver full self-driving on the Tesla Model 3 by next year.

When there is no human driver, who cares about what is hidden behind any pillars? You can just draw the curtains shut, or turn a knob to make the windows all opaque and go to sleep until the car delivers you to your destination.

If he is successful, all these projects by other companies, and the companies too, will be blown to smithereens.

Full self-driving cars doesn't seem to be Musk's strength. He'll probably land a spaceship to mars before having a full self-driving car.

 

[NW-Bound]

I was being sarcastic.

Still, it takes gumption for Musk to make that promise, and I respect his guts.