Augmented Reality Makes Buildings Transparent as You Drive Past [Car Tech]

Augmented reality is stupid as a marketing gimmick—hold a Pepsi can in front of your webcam and be underwhelmed!—but this use of it is both practical and amazing. As you drive, this system displays surrounding buildings as see-thru.
This system works by using two cameras. One is placed behind a blind corner, while the other is in a car pointed forward. By combining the two views and using shared landmarks to match the content, the system then projects the combined image with the transparent building on the windshield. The driver then sees the puppy running towards the street before its too late.
Obviously, a lot needs to happen for this sort of thing to become commonplace. For one, every blind spot will need a couple of cameras pointed on it from various viewpoints, and cars would then need to be able to tap into all of their feeds. But hey, we're already living in a world where CCTV cameras capture our ever move, so why not add a few more? [New Scientist via Boing Boing]


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