Japanese scientists create 'transparent' car

Japanese scientists have created a "transparent" car akin to Bond's Aston Martin Vanquish, which becomes invisible in "Die Another Day" on ice sheets.

Seemingly transparent from the inside, the car allows drivers to "see through" the rear bodywork and would also help prevent accidents.

The car would help drivers with parking, projecting a panoramic view of the area behind the car onto the rear seats, the Daily Mail reports.

We could see something like this in the near future (image credit)

The view would include children, animals or objects that may be invisible below the rear window. Drivers who struggle to parallel park may find this invention particularly useful.

Two cameras on the boot lid capture a full view of the scene behind the car. The images are combined by computer and reflected onto the seats to create the illusion that the back of the car is transparent from the driver's seat.

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Masahiko Inami, from Tokyo's Keio University, said, "The driver will feel like he's driving a glass car." Inami works at the university where the technology was developed and fitted to a Toyota Prius.

A Japanese car maker is said to be working with the lab to put the technology into production. Other ideas under development include making other parts of the car transparent.

A research last year found that 200,000 accidents are caused anually in Britain by reversing vehicles, with the majority of them being the fault of the driver who was travelling backwards.

IANS