It’s difficult to see the road, as well as other drivers, when the sun is glaring in your eyes. While most vehicles are equipped with pull-down sun visors, they don’t always offer completion protection from sunlight. Depending on the direction in which you are driving and the time of day, the sun may shine at just the right angle to strike your eyes, resulting in lower visibility. Bosh, however, has revealed a high-tech alternative that could prove more effective than conventional sun visors.
While presenting at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, Bosh unveiled a transparent liquid-crystal display (LCD) that scans your face while driving and responds by blocking the sun in and around your eyes.
Known as the Virtual Visor, Bosh’s new product could prove highly useful considering that sun glare is a leading factor in many vehicular collisions and accidents. How does the Virtual Visor work exactly? It consists of a camera as a well as an LCD projection. The camera is powered by imagery software that, when activated, searches for facial features to track the location of the driver’s face. The LCD projection responds by projecting a transparent LCD over the driver’s face, specifically his or her eyes to protect against sun flare.
Bosh’s Virtual Visitor essentially works by projecting light onto the driver’s face. Rather than blinding the driver, however, the LCD light creates shade so that the driver can see more easily. The amount of light — or shade — creates by the Virtual Visor is controlled by energizing or deenergizing the shutter. Energizing the shutter reduces light, whereas deenergizing the shutter increases light.
Traditional automotive sun visors often suffer from several problems. First, they don’t always cover the drive’s face. Depending on the sun’s angle, they may only cover some of the driver’s face, or they may not cover any of the driver’s face. Second, traditional sun visors are prone to failure. If the sun visor breaks or otherwise falls off, it will no longer protect the driver’s eyes from sun glare. Bosh’s Virtual Visor hopes the solve these problems by offering a virtual, LCD-powered sun visor as an alternative.
While it may be months if not years until Bosh releases the Virtual Visor, the high-tech sun visor is already turning heads. Bosh has been awarded the “Best Innovation Award” for the Virtual Visor, attesting to its potential.
