Transparent Pillars

by Billy Holladay, Clemson Electrical Engineering Student

Basic Description

 

Transparent pillars are electronic systems placed on the pillars of your car to help eliminate blind spots created by these support pillars. Jaguar originally introduced the idea of these pillars on December 15, 2014. Based on Jaguar's current intentions, this system will be used on the A-pillar and the B-pillar; although, it could be used on any pillar in the car. It makes the pillars appear transparent by placing a camera on the outside of the pillar and then lining the inside of the pillar with a screen that will display what the camera captures.

This system will most likely have other systems implemented into it such as Head-up Display, Navigation, and Pedestrian Detection. Because you will be able to see whatever is on the other side of the pillar, they will now be able to highlight pedestrians that show up on the pillars using technology that is already being tested in HUD's. They can also use these screens to display information to the driver in a non-distractive manner, such as navigation. One more piece of technology they are concepting is having the B-pillars be transparent only when you turn your head to check in that direction. It will use a camera inside of the car to detect your head turning that way and will make the pillar turn transparent.

The picture below shows a concept picture of the transparent pillars created by a student in the ECE 470 class at Clemson. As you can see, the A-pillar on the driver's side is transparent allowing the driver to see through them.

Sensors

Optical Imaging

Actuators

Display

Manufacturers

Jaguar

For More Information

[1] Jaguar Land Rover Develops Transparent Pillar, Jaguar, Dec. 15, 2014.

[2] How Does a GPS Car Navigation System Work?, YouTube, Dec. 16, 2014.