A team consisting of Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design designers and Toyota engineers from Toyota Motor Europe unveiled “Window to the World” — a technology that converts the back window of an automobile into a transparent touch screen.
This latest entry in the passenger entertainment sweepstakes is designed to help younger people pass the time with diverting and educational activities.
“The concept re-defines the relationship between passengers in a vehicle and the world around it by transforming the vehicle”s windows into an interactive interface,” stated designers in their press release. “Using augmented reality, what used to be a pane of glass, begins to provide passengers with information about landmarks and other objects as they go past. The window can also be used as a canvas for drawings, which then interacts with the passing environment.”
The system offers users five distinct capabilities. With the drawing-in-motion component, a user-passenger can draw with his or her fingers on the window”s lower left corner. Objects appear to move out of the window frame at the same rate that the car is moving.
Passengers can also zoom in on objects outside the vehicle using the “zooming into captured moments in time” feature. The window is also able to teach new languages. A passenger selects an item he or she sees outside the vehicle, and the word for that item is provided in the dominant local language, in real time.
The device is also able to pinpoint a landmark in the distance and then augment its distance relative to the car on the window”s surface, thus eliminating the ages-old “Are we there yet?” question. Another learning tool, called “Virtual Constellations,” uses the automobile”s panoramic roof to display virtual constellations, as well as information about them with the sky as a background.
“Watching the video the team has created of a child using the new technology is both awe inspiring and head scratching. On the one hand, you have to give the designers and engineers credit for even thinking of such a thing, and for portraying it in such a beautiful and simplistic way,” noted Bob Yirka, writing at PhysOrg. “But, on the other, the practicalities of such a technology soon surpass the feelings of wonder at this new demonstration of the power of applied technology. Would window smudging ruin the effect after awhile, for example, or would a child bother with it if buckled in so tight that turning to use the window would become a strenuous activity; or would kids prefer to just have a tablet computer on their lap, etc.”
The designers state that rather than merely “creating a concept simply with strong visual aesthetics,” their goal was “to create beautiful and intangible experiences to address specific needs and desires, to bring genuine value to the vehicle”s passengers.”
Working “Window to the World” prototypes were shown at the European Automobile Manufacturers” Association”s “Our Future Mobility Now” exhibition in Brussels, Belgium, in June. Toyota states the concept, created by its Kansei Design Division, may be incorporated in future Toyota and Lexus automobiles.
