Are you a member of the community of tech fans who believe that wearable technology isn’t stupid looking enough? Well don’t worry, because Mini along with the marketing teams at a bunch of Qualcomm companies and Designworks (it’s got to be the marketers behind this. Damn marketers) have got your back.
Last week at the Shanghai Auto Show Mini introduced their Augmented Vision Eyewear concepts that look like this.
Not only do they look like a pair of sunglasses that Lady GaGa looked at and said “nah, that’s a bit much”, but they’re also supposed to enhance safety and functionality of your Mini by incorporating a head-up display and see-through technology.
The goggles show info to the driver in their field of vision but without hiding other important parts of the driving experience, like, I don’t know, everything else in sight.
The HUD shows navigation info, possible parking spots, turning arrows and “points of interest…such as open parking spaces”. But what they really mean by “points of interest” is the nearest Seattle coffee shop and stockist of the Mail and Guardian.
They have incorporated a pretty cool X-Ray view that gives the driver virtual sight through parts of the vehicle that you wouldn’t normally be able to see through, like the A-pillars and doors. Hmm. That is cool.
Two other immediate problems for the wearer come to mind: firstly, “what am I supposed to do with my R3 000 Ray Bans boyeeee?” And secondly, when the call comes in from the President to drop everything, kiss my family good-bye and take my seat at a gattling gun in the back of a World War 2 aeroplane, will I be willing?
