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BMW Night Vision (video)

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Cool, but who will be looking at the on board monitor when afraid to hit someone?

ir image needs to be on the windshield!!

Seriously. Who should be driving along looking down at a TV monitor? Some kind of Front projection onto the inside of the windshield highlighting areas of activity would be much better?

This monitor is in the center of the dash!!! This would be much more useful if it was projected on the windshield. Now people will be watching their dash instead of looking out the windshield when they drive at night.

I have a 3 with a similar dash, it kinda in the upper part. I am pretty sure you not suppose to drive by it, it should just point out people and objects on the road further down. It is not like the headlights would be off. In the video they are on auto, and in the dark means that the headlights are on.

i think you guys are overreacting as to the location. It's a secondary screen, like a rearview mirror or side mirrors... you do know how to use those and still not hit someone right? Watch the video again and you'll see that you don't stare at the screen on the dash you only notice the white 'blips' of people when they appear.

good so now while i am watching tv (on my dash) I can look at this monitor to make sure I don't hit anything

Projected on the windshield? You mean like Cadillac did years ago? Once again, BMW has taken someone else's idea, made a crappier version and calls it a wonderful new innovation. Rank it right up there with BMW's voice recognition that didn't work for years despite everyone else already having that feature working.

You guys don't play video games, do you? Can't you passively monitor the dashboard while keeping your attention on the road? You're just mad that you can't afford this feature on your car :)

i often run into alot of stuff when i look down at my cd track or looking at the trip computer.

.......reference ...ie, temperature readings, guages, radio, and navigation (does anyone drive simply by starring at their navi haha)

oh this would be awesome in a horror movie..

How effective is this system in the rain? Or if one Arnold Schwarzenegger covered with cold wet mud is playing stealthy ninja? =P Pretty cool stuff 'though.

thats why I prefer not to drive at all, ha!

great, well fart penis barf cunt. comments are worthless

Hey GW - stop posting on blogs as "Capn comment" and get back to planning the invasion of Iran.

Holy hell. Were people always this stupid or did the internet just make them bolder?

useless if it isn't on the windshield, anyone who is driving forward without looking only at the windshield is a dangerous driver...you should only look away (to the sides or rearview mirrors) if there is ample reason to, and usually you get those cues from your straightehead vantage point.
However, since the humans in the IR video look pretty uniform in size, shape and heat images, why not have image sensing software that determines there is in fact a human ahead, and returns that information to the car's CPU, which then sends an alert through the sound system informing the driver of the human's bearing and distance.
something like "person sighted 100 yards, directly ahead"

I would like to see how this works in a city full of lights and multiple people.

I saw Cadillac display this technology about 6-7 years ago at the San Francisco Auto Show and they had it on the windshield! Come on BMW, you were recently named one of fastest adopters of Telematics and your "forcing" people to have to look away?!

what is so wrong with people driving watching the dash and not the windshield if it is safer because it shows greater detail?

Wow, there sure are a lot of unlicensed drivers commenting on this system tonight... Reminds me of the admonishment to keep your mouth shut if there's any danger at all that opening it would PROVE you to be a moron.

I only look at teh monitor when I drive. Usually its a video of what is in front of me, but my friends have pranked me with a tape of yesterday's commute before. kinda scary, but hey, at least it's not porn - like that one guy...(you, that is)

RAWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

RAWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

Ok stilly bastards.

You aren't meant to drive while watching the monitor. Simply to take a peak at it when you see a blip on it, which is pretty much saying "WATCH THE ROAD".

pipe...great comment...hilarious...its all about watching tv safely

nice comment "stupidity!"...although you are the stupid one...don't you mean "peek" not "peak" like the top of a mountain?

Oh this is so great!! Future version should project the night vision video feed directly on the windshield....awesome!

most of you are making stupid comments without nowing how the system works,the system does warn you when an object is detected in your path and i dont think the system would need to distinguish if there is a human being in your path or an object because regardless you are not going to want to hit a person or a tree for that matter.......and for that tosser who wrote about bmw stealing ideas especially off american car manufacturers please americans are known for making the ugliest,badly engineered,gas guzzling cars in the world........read before you write...

projecting it in front of the driver can't be far away, several of the BMWs already have heads-up displays that are about the same size as the in-dash monitor, though at this point they have piss-poor resolution and project orange.

In my opinion if you go roller blading or jogging down an unlit country road at the dead of night with NO reflective clothing on u deserve to be run over :-) I also agree with about every other post tho that having no heads up display is useless!

I think this would be very helpful in spotting deer and other animals.

Well, this is a nice feature. But, who in their right mind would want to jog or skate in the dark?

This vid would be better if they used deer instead.

I drive a Prius with a GPS system and I regularly glance at the screen located in the same spot as in the video. Doing so gives me information on where I am or my MPG. Having experience with the system in the Prius I wouldn't say the BMW system is dangerous or useless, and could actually save lives.

Oh, and regarding the Cadillac display in the windshield at an auto show: getting it to the market is what matters, not prototypes. Its much easier to do something for an auto show than it is to make it affordable, robust, and reliable enough to put in mass production.

They ought to do it like they have it in the Apache attach chopper. You have one eye covered with the infra red display goggles. The other eye monitors the "real world".

And the DMV gives you a special license to drive one of these :)

Should be good for dogging tho...

I like it, but there should be a minigun and heatseeking missles with a targeting system and triggers for both on the steering wheel next to the volume control.

There are some new cars coming out in 07-08 that have their display on the windscreen, so it;'s just a matter of time.

Kids grow up! Dont post anything if you cant think before writing!

you kids are dumb. People show up as bright white spots. It's supposed to catch your eye like an indicator light. Now I suppose you'll say all indicator lights should be on the windshield? Some day perhaps, but this is a step. Cheese and crackers...

It would be even better if the dude actually used his high beams. I think I would be safe with lights that went more than 10 feet in front of me. I don't know about you, but the worst lights I've driven with make the entire road visible for at least 100 feet.

Whats wrong with having a display on the windshield? THeres all the space to the left which really doesn't get used. jet's have displays on there windshield and thats cool, why not a car? and if your diplay is on the windshield you could have your screen located where the display is. That would be better than having it in the middle,

okay.. thats just great.. another thing to distract us from actually watching the road... granted it is cool, but I don't think that slow drive test is really gonna save lives when done at 70mph.

A driver's license should be required to post at this article.

I am a huge old car fan. I am a textile designer and have not been as excited about a car design as I am about the BMW Gina Night Vision.
This designed car is one of the most beautiful I have seen in many years. It's absolutely gorgeous and I love it.

http://www.houstontexasbmw.com

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