Landrover invents Invisible Bonnet for Offroading


by Torsten 1mak Schmidt
– 3630 Readers

If you've ever felt anxious about taking a premium vehicle offroad, Land Rover's new transparent hood might ease your worries. The company has just announced a new system that turns your SUV's hood see-through, and while it's still in the prototype phase it will most likely make its way to production.

The hood of the vehicle is not actually transparent; instead, the system uses a camera in the grille of the car that records the road surface, while a smart windscreen head-up display projects these images onto the hood. This will allow drivers to see upcoming boulders, logs and other obstacles on the road to ensure their vehicle doesn't get damaged.

This system is similar to an experimental one developed by the Japanese last year, which used a projector to make the rear bench "transparent" when parking. Dr Wolfgang Epple, Director of Research and Technology for Jaguar Land Rover, explains the transparent prototype: "As our vehicles become more capable and autonomous off-road, we will ensure the driver has the confidence to allow the car to continue to progress, over any terrain. We are developing new technologies including the Transparent Bonnet to give drivers an augmented view of reality to help them tackle anything from the toughest off-road route to the tight confines of an urban car park,"

So for those of you who are hesitant about taking your prized car off the beaten track, it seems that the future of offroading is about to become a whole lot clearer.