GM Wants To Replace Touchscreens Using Weird Projection System

General Motors (GM) has submitted a patent application for a unique device known as the "Autostereoscopic Campfire Display," which projects holographic pictures straight into passengers' eyeballs.

The device has a sophisticated projection mechanism that includes a spatial light modulator and a passenger monitoring system, notwithstanding how odd the technology seems. A beam steering device and picture generator unit are also included, and the holographic effect is produced by a number of computer processors cooperating.

Photo: Interesting Patents. With the help of GM's innovative technology, the beam guiding device can precisely project visuals by tracking the location of the passengers' eyes. By projecting distinct images into each eye to produce a 3D experience, the system can even accommodate many passengers at once. Even situations with different visual similarities and differences are described in the patent.

Several examples of projecting images that are almost identical, identical, or significantly different are described in the patent. It also discusses other methods for projecting visuals and tracking people, but they all need aiming something at your eyes at a frequency higher than 30 Hz. The human eye apparently doesn't notice any flickering at such frequency and combines each two-dimensional image into a single three-dimensional vision.

According to the patent, this technology is linked to vehicles with sophisticated Level 4 and Level 5 autonomous capabilities. It is yet unknown how it will be used in consumer cars.