Augmented Reality App Simulates Google Glass on Your Windscreen
A free augmented reality app helps you safely navigate low-visibility conditions.
As a 29-year-old red P-plater (don't mock me, I'm quite sensitive about it), I pose a threat to other motorists simply by spending too much time with my eyes obsessively locked on the speedometer rather than on the road. Other times I'm praying for a red light so I can check Google Maps, because I didn't hear its guiding voice give me directions (sometimes it's hard to hear anything over the amazing Ace of Base remixes pumping on my stereo).
Worst of all, what the hell do I do in low visibility conditions, like midnight drag races through dense fog along winding country roads? How do I know which way the road is about to swerve, before it's too late and I soar, Thelma & Louisely, off a cliff? If only Google Glass were available to me now, I find myself sighing. Now I discover I need sigh no more, and neither need you, for augmented reality windscreens are finally here thanks to an iPhone app called HUDWAY.
The nifty thing about HUDWAY is that it combines digital tech with a totally analogue, pre-existing factor for its interface: to make it work, you simply place your phone on the dashboard, and its display is reflected onto the windscreen. Presto: high-tech heads-up display, with elements like your speed and the distance to the next turn expressed in numerals, as well as a visualisation of the road ahead, showing particularly dangerous turns in red. It's definitely an advance in driver safety, and it also happens to be available for free.
Once you enter your destination using an internet-supported map service, the route's loaded and ready to go, so that you needn't remain online while driving. This is great news for those times when you are doing the above-mentioned midnight drag races through internet-free mountain ranges. Check out the video below to see HUDWAY in action as a driver hurtles recklessly through rain-sodden long grasses, anticipating turns and showing nature who's boss.
Via PSFK.
