A 14-year old girl has devised a system for ending the scourge of blind spots that continually have drivers craning their necks to ensure the path ahead is clear.
Teenager Alaina Gassler has managed to eliminate the blind spots created by the pillars either side of the car windscreen, an issue the auto industry has long ignored.
As part of a project called Improving Automobile Safety by Removing Blindspots, Pennsylvania-native Gassler rigged a webcam to the outside of her car and then projected the image onto pillars, showing the part of the road that had previously been obscured.
The image is presented as such so the driver only effectively has a clear view of activity out of the right side of a left-hand drive car. Essentially, it makes the pillar invisible.
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There’s some custom 3D printing involved here, but all of the gadgetry involved could be nabbed from a decent online electronics store, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see some drivers attempt to repeat her success. Heck, we’d be more surprised if auto manufacturers didn’t hijack the idea and incorporate a souped up version of the tech into next-gen vehicles.
The invention, which you can see in the videos below (via Gizmodo), earned Alaina a $25,000 first prize at the Society for Science and the Public’s Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology, and Engineering for Rising Stars) science and engineering competition.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.