The new "Mini Augmented Vision" glasses can overlay all sorts of information and let you peer through the exterior of the car.
Mini has teamed with Qualcomm to produce a prototype pair of what are known as augmented reality glasses that will let drivers get more out of their ride.
With all the talk of autonomous cars, Mini USA product planning manager Pat McKenna said people who buy Minis are young and like driving, but they’re also tech savvy, and this latest effort aims to hit that demographic, according to a USA Today report.
Mini Augmented Vision is a pair of goggles that is currently in the prototype phase. They have two stereoscopic HD displays that use WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS to overlay information from the real world onto it.
That means a heads-up display for drivers that can relay information such as streets and signs, as well as the speed of the vehicle. But it can go further than that: they can give the driver X-ray vision, which would enable them to see through the doors of the car by syncing it with cameras that are positioned around the car.
Mini produced a promotional video for the goggles, depicted a young male driver zipping through the streets of Barcelona in Spain. Before getting in his car, he dons the goggles, which allows him to unlock his car, observe his speed, and spot a skateboarder just outside the door on the passenger side.
He later is seen walking around town wearing the goggles and sees a few posters which have special information that can be translated by the glasses. The glasses tell him a concert is sold out, and then reads another poster for a gallery and asks if he’d like to plot a course there. That information is transferred into the car automatically before he gets in.