Apple wants drivers to take their eyes off cell phones and other digital distractions and stare at their auto windshields instead.
The company recently filed a U.S. patent application for a “visual content overlay system” to create an augmented reality (AR) windshield. “An augmented reality display system included in a vehicle generates an augmented reality display on one or more transparent surfaces of the vehicle,” the company says in an August 24 patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademarks Office.
The AR display would include a speed indicator spatially positioned depending on the local speed limit. The display would use sensors, such as cameras and light detection and ranging, to gather real-world data highlighting street signs, hidden objects, school zones, and pedestrians in a three-dimensional view of the vehicle’s surroundings.
The technology could monitor the stress level of the vehicle driver or other occupants, tracking eye motion, body posture, body gesture, body temperature, breathing rate, heart rate, etc. When it detects high driver stress levels, the AR display will provide navigational aids to calm the driver.
