If you were in an arcade at any point during the ‘90s, you likely saw Sega’s Time Traveler video game in action and therefore realize how distracting holograms can be. If not, please observe:
With that in mind, when BMW announced it had designed a “HoloActive Touch” system featuring a virtual touchscreen for drivers to use, well, while driving, it made us do a double take.
A free-floating display that understands finger gestures, the full-color HoloActive system hovers over the center console and allows the driver to interact with flexibly configurable control pads.
“A camera detects the driver’s hand movements within this ergonomically user-friendly area, and registers the position of their fingertips,” BMW says. “As soon as a fingertip makes contact with one of these virtual control surfaces, a pulse is emitted and the function is activated.”
Innovative? Yes. Impressive? Sure. Potentially dangerous as all hell? Kind of sounds like it. We’re just not sure the merits of colorful, moving 3D objects outweighs the risk of distracting drivers. If you can’t text and drive in many states, why would hands-off-the-wheel interacting with a hologram be any better?
Call us crazy, but we think holograms should stick in places they belong, like our living room.
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