No More Blind Spots… 360 Degree Real-Time Driving Views!
November 18, 2008 (9 Responses)
FUJITSU LABS has just announced the development of a new video-processing technology that enables a complete wraparound view of a vehicle’s perimeter in real time.
In other words, drivers will soon have the ability to see everything, from many different angles while driving in real-time, thus eliminating so-called ‘blind spots’. Current smart cameras within cars are lilmited by their fields of view and positioning, however Fujitsu Labs has developed a video processing system that stitches together the shots from various cameras placed within the car into a single cohesive image which can be displayed in the dashboard for the driver from various angles (e.g. front, rear, above, side etc.).
Consider the possibilities… no more reversing over your neighbours cat in the morning or wondering if you’re passing too close to the parked car beside you while you try to maneuver out of a tight parking space and stretch your neck into convulsions in the process.
So how is this possible? Well it’s some clever technology actually. This new solution is comprised of the MB86R01 graphics chip for automobiles from Fujitsu Microelectronics Limited which supports the OpenGL ES(2), a general-purpose embeddable image-processing platform; and a video-processing chip that combines video images from four cameras. As a vehicle view assistance system, this system achieves real-time operation with 30 millisecond video processing time. With this technology, in various driving situations the driver can obtain an overview from a single image, thus instantly grasping and understanding a situation surrounding the vehicle that requires immediate attention.
And the result? Well just look at some of the examples in the these images taken from the original press release. On the left is the best a conventional solution can come up with and in the middle and then on the right are some examples of how the new Fujitsu solution renders the images. It’s pretty impressive when you consider that not only does the solution ‘stictch together’ the various viewpoints into a single cohesive image, but it also then enables you to view this image, in real-time, from various viewing angles.
While this is a relatively new technology I can see the second or third generation of this type of solution, or indeed some variant of same, becoming standard on all cars in the next decade or so. Just add some collission detection intelligence to the image processing software and you have yourself a real winner in the safety department.
Either way it’s a pretty fascinating direction for image processing to take.
This sounds very promising. I would suggest testing especially for older people who increasingly experience increasing vision problems plus flexibility problems (i .e, ability to turn their necks and body in varying directions. But there are also many obvious problems for any user: number of cameras required f r any user; equipment/installations costs; would it have to be oritginal equipment, or could it readily be retrofitted in any vehicle? And cost s?
Keep in mind Murrey that this is first generation tech, so I’d envisage another generation or two before it’s perfected (smaller, faster, cheaper etc.) and available to the automotive industry in broad terms.
As for pricing, I haven’t seen any information on that yet. My understanding is that the solution is currently implemented using 4 cameras and using some smart software to ‘stitch’ the images together to ‘fill in the blanks’ – if that makes any sense.
I’d compare this to the mobile phone when it first came out. Remember those big bricks people used to carry around with them and the lumering batteries that were required. A few generations later the mobile phone is small, cheap, and doing a hell of a lot more than just a phone. I’d imagine the same will happen to this technology and it will also grow beyond the auto industry because it could have applications in all aspects of life.
Well it’s some clever technology actually. This new solution is comprised of the MB86R01 graphics chip for automobiles from Fujitsu Microelectronics Limited which supports the OpenGL ES(2), a general-purpose embeddable image-processing platform; and a video-processing chip that combines video images from four cameras.
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