If your car is like most, you see a bit of the road through the back window, with a whole lot of your back seat underneath. If only you could see through that seat, you could see so much more of the road. Well, a group from Japan’s Keio University has developed a system that lets drivers do that ... sort of.

 

The experimental system incorporates rearview video cameras mounted on the back of the car, that are linked to a projector mounted behind and below the front seats. That unit projects a composite image of the cameras’ combined video output onto a rear-facing half-mirror, mounted above it and near the driver. That half-mirror – which the driver can see through when they look back in its direction – reflects the projected video onto the back seat.