I can see this as a great feature for a car windshield. Why bother even wearing glasses when the LCD windshield can block out the sun while it gives you a HUD.
LCD windshields seem like something that would be regulated to oblivion (what happens if a bug, unlucky particle strike, vulnerability, etc.) causes your entire windshield to become opaque?) That said, in a world tolerant of reasonable amounts of risk I agree.
(Almost) All car failures are perfectly safe if you assume they occur when the user is otherwise safe. It's the failures that occur in conjunction with other failures and run you out of safety margin you have to worry about.
This is why you put the LCD inside the windshield. This way, by the time the LCD takes damage the windshield is already shattered, and a shattered windshield is about as see-through as icebergs.
This is a good point. Really good ideas can overcome legislative and regulatory inertia, with enough money and time behind them, thank goodness.
My only devil's advocate point would be that drive-by-wire cars typically have mechanical failsafes that the average person is fairly comforted by. For example, many drive by wire systems have some springs that set the car to just above idle if the ECU gets confused. I guess the analog for a potentially opaque windshield is sticking your head out the window, though this may not be fast enough if you're on a windy mountain road, driving through construction, etc.
A liquid-crystal-less region at the bottom of the windshield may do the job, and still do all the information-displaying and sun-blocking you need.
I thought about a filter that would stick on your window, to block glare from your side mirrors.
Use two disks of polarized film. When the brightness off the mirror spikes, rotate one disk to reduce the amount of light transmitted. Once a sensor notes that the mirror is no longer reflecting someone's too-bright headlights, it would rotate the disk back to maximum light transmission.
The area involved could be pretty small, and most of the view through the window and mirror would be unaffected.
That is basically a crude description of how LCD displays work - polarized layers, one of which can be selectively rotated to control how much light comes through.
Right. I just figure a coupla pieces of polarized film would be cheaper, simpler, and more flexible (physically) than an LCD. (Since car interiors and glass tend towards curvy rather than flat, a flexible film would likely be more workable than an LCD panel.)
Comments
I can see this as a great feature for a car windshield. Why bother even wearing glasses when the LCD windshield can block out the sun while it gives you a HUD.
LCD windshields seem like something that would be regulated to oblivion (what happens if a bug, unlucky particle strike, vulnerability, etc.) causes your entire windshield to become opaque?) That said, in a world tolerant of reasonable amounts of risk I agree.
The driver steps on the breaks, decelerating to a stop.
Abruptly when he hit the bottom of the ravine.
(Almost) All car failures are perfectly safe if you assume they occur when the user is otherwise safe. It's the failures that occur in conjunction with other failures and run you out of safety margin you have to worry about.
Hopefully it would be fail-safe, as presumably most systems in cars are.
It shouldn't allow more than a small percentage of the windshield to be black, if power is cut it should un-blacken the entire windshield, etc.
Except when LCDs break they generally fail with large opaque areas.
One pebble in the windshield at highway speeds, and much of your visibility could go.
This is why you put the LCD inside the windshield. This way, by the time the LCD takes damage the windshield is already shattered, and a shattered windshield is about as see-through as icebergs.
Whether an LCD is opaque or transparent without power is arbitrary, you can build them either way.
What happens if a bug in your modern, fly-by-wire car decides to mix up the gas signal and the brake signal?
This is a good point. Really good ideas can overcome legislative and regulatory inertia, with enough money and time behind them, thank goodness.
My only devil's advocate point would be that drive-by-wire cars typically have mechanical failsafes that the average person is fairly comforted by. For example, many drive by wire systems have some springs that set the car to just above idle if the ECU gets confused. I guess the analog for a potentially opaque windshield is sticking your head out the window, though this may not be fast enough if you're on a windy mountain road, driving through construction, etc.
A liquid-crystal-less region at the bottom of the windshield may do the job, and still do all the information-displaying and sun-blocking you need.
I thought about a filter that would stick on your window, to block glare from your side mirrors.
Use two disks of polarized film. When the brightness off the mirror spikes, rotate one disk to reduce the amount of light transmitted. Once a sensor notes that the mirror is no longer reflecting someone's too-bright headlights, it would rotate the disk back to maximum light transmission.
The area involved could be pretty small, and most of the view through the window and mirror would be unaffected.
That is basically a crude description of how LCD displays work - polarized layers, one of which can be selectively rotated to control how much light comes through.
Right. I just figure a coupla pieces of polarized film would be cheaper, simpler, and more flexible (physically) than an LCD. (Since car interiors and glass tend towards curvy rather than flat, a flexible film would likely be more workable than an LCD panel.)