Window to the World
Who among us, as a child, has never drawn on a fogged window? Those who did not play with the shapes in the passing scenery outside the car?
What if the window could be interactive and respond to our actions? This question lead Toyota to present the Window to the World concept at the ACEA “Our Future Mobility Now” exhibition. The project born from the collaboration between the the kansei design team (an R&D group of toyota motors europe) and consultants at the copenhagen institute of interaction design (CIID). This concept thinks the backseat windows of the cars as an interface for young passengers to learn and be creative. It replaces windows with transparent touch screens, providing users with games and educational tools as well as information about landmarks and other objects visible from outside.
As reported in the official news, the concept is composed of five parts:
- Drawing in Motion: using the car window as a canvas, passengers can draw, using their fingers, and see the images integrating with the outside world as the vehicle moves along;
- Zooming into captured moments in time: the window becomes a screen for passengers to zoom-in on outside objects to see it in a brand new perspective.
- Translating the world in a local language: passengers are exposed to new languages and cultures as they can select elements outside the window and receive a real-time translation in a local language.
- Augmented Distances: pinpoint landmarks in the distance and the window will augment the relative distance to the car on the window surface.
- Virtual Constellations: the car’s panoramic roof displays virtual constellations and information about them with the actual sky as a background.
Except for the zoom feature this is all possible with available technology. The problem is that it is prohibitively expensive, also can you say “useless gimmick”.
This concept alone is not enough to conquer the big market interest and right now it is gimmick for sure.
However think about what spectacular and useful application we could have extending this technology to the windshield. Indicators, GPS features, augmented reality, image enhancement are some examples
Always a good job right here. Keep roillng on through.
You get a lot of respect from me for writing these helpful atrlices.
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