Math professor's side mirror that eliminates 'blind spot' receives US patent

[ALS]

"Imagine that the mirror's surface is made of many smaller mirrors turned to different angles, like a disco ball,".

Drexel University - PHYS - June 8th, 2012

Traditional flat mirrors on the driver's side of a vehicle give drivers an accurate sense of the distance of cars behind them but have a very narrow field of view. As a result, there is a region of space behind the car, known as the blind spot, that drivers can't see via either the side or rear-view mirror. It's not hard to make a curved mirror that gives a wider field of view – no blind spot – but at the cost of visual distortion and making objects appear smaller and farther away.

Hicks's driver's side mirror has a field of view of about 45 degrees, compared to 15 to 17 degrees of view in a flat driver's side mirror. Unlike in simple curved mirrors that can squash the perceived shape of objects and make straight lines appear curved, in Hicks's mirror the visual distortions of shapes and straight lines are barely detectable.

Hicks, a professor in Drexel's College of Arts and Sciences, designed his mirror using a mathematical algorithm that precisely controls the angle of light bouncing off of the curving mirror.

"Imagine that the mirror's surface is made of many smaller mirrors turned to different angles, like a disco ball," Hicks said.... [Read More]

[herm]

That is just amazing..

[jpleong]

But people will still set the side mirrors to see the rear. Or do their makeup. *sigh*

JP

[Earthling]

People actually use their mirrors while driving? I didn't know that...
I mean, they never use turn signals, so why use mirrors?

Harry

[MikeMarsUK]

The driver's side mirrors here in europe are mostly flat but with a curve on the far edge to show the blind spot (there is a vertical line separating the flat area and the curved area).

[Carcus]

From the demonstration photo......

The objects have:
A. Shrunk in size (by about 2/3 -- compare the silver car)
B. Distorted (look at the angles on the building)

So what's the big advancement here vs "simple curved mirrors"?

[phoebeisis]

Carcus
Big advancement is this guy hopes to advance his bank account.
I don't like mirrors that take things waaaaay out of scale-making them look 2x as far away!

Interesting, but I have enough trouble getting accustomed to the Prius rear view camera.
Charlie

[herm]

much lower distortion, the shape has been tuned for its job .. standard curved mirrors have their sweet spot where your eyes should be and every straight line will be distorted.

[Carcus]

Maybe somebody needs to make a "hybrid mirror" -- 1/2 regular mirror (Appropriately convex) and 1/2 video (covers the blind area).

/ then they could charge a lot more in the name of safety -- always a winning combination

[thunderstruck]

Originally Posted by ALS

Imagine that the mirror's surface is made of many smaller mirrors turned to different angles, like a disco ball,"

So with the mirror you'll be ah ah ah ah stayin alive?