Trying to overtake a truck is horribly nerve-wracking. Ducking out every few seconds to check the coast is clear, having your heart in your mouth when it isn’t and that feeling of ‘YES I’VE DONE IT!’ when you finally zoom past the road monster.
Well, in order to make the roads even safer and avoid those moments of ‘is there a car or isn’t there?’ anxiety, tech giant Samsung is hoping to make the backs of its trucks transparent so those behind the massive vehicles can see what’s coming.
Samsung has called its prototype truck the Safety Truck and explains the concept in a blog post.
“The Safety Truck consists of a wireless camera attached to the front of the truck, which is connected to a video wall made out of four exterior monitors located on the back of the truck,” said Samsung’s post.
“The monitors give drivers behind the truck a view of what is going on ahead, even in the dark of night.”
While the Safety Truck prototype built to test the technology is no longer operational, Samsung said it’s a coup for the roads as it’s shown this idea can work and that it “can definitely save the lives of many people”.
The concept of putting a camera at the front of a large truck and having it transmit the back was first introduced in 2009, according to The Verge, however writer Vlad Savov said it’s impressive the tech giant has figured out how to make it work in all conditions.
Although he does question the practicalities of the tech being implemented across a large-scale.
“The camera might be cheap and simple enough to install, but four displays per truck would be a major investment for any transport company to make, especially since it wouldn’t lead to any direct financial benefit,” he wrote.
