Technology

Zeiss Smart Glass tech could place a transparent camera mid-window

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Among the suggested applications for the Zeiss Multifunctional Smart Glass technology is a "holocam" that can be positioned in the middle of a glass panel to "allow participants in videoconferences to make eye contact"
Zeiss
Among the suggested applications for the Zeiss Multifunctional Smart Glass technology is a "holocam" that can be positioned in the middle of a glass panel to "allow participants in videoconferences to make eye contact"
Zeiss
The micro-optic layer can be applied to vehicle windshields, to serve as a head-up display
Zeiss
The Zeiss tech could make for elevator panels where "holographic" controls appear at the wave of a hand
Zeiss
Zeiss says that large windows in smart homes could not only host 3D "holographic" imagery, but could also channel concentrated sunlight to hidden solar cells to produce energy
Zeiss
The Zeiss technology could allow for rear lighting to appear to pop out from the vehicle
Zeiss
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German optics titan Zeiss is heading to CES next week to show off its Multifunctional Smart Glass technology, which can float "holographic" and augmented-reality content on a transparent surface for such things as head-up displays in cars, 3D control elements in smart homes, and even a transparent videocam in the middle of a glass panel.

Zeiss first announced the development in early 2019, and it had matured enough by last year for use in augmented-reality head-up displays (HUD) in aircraft cockpits. The company revealed plans to move into automotive applications at IAA Mobility 2023, and is now pushing for mass production in what VP Roman Kleindienst is calling a "Gutenberg moment for holography."

The technology is built around a thin polymer film that can "turn any glass surface (windows of buildings, transparent screens, side windows of vehicles) into an on-demand screen for communications." The company says that the film offers more than 92 percent transparency, features "ultra-high-precision optics," and combines projection, detection, illumination and filtering functionality.

The micro-optic layer can be applied to vehicle windshields, to serve as a head-up display
Zeiss

Continuing the IAA Mobility conversation, the technology being presented in Nevada next week will include augmented-reality HUDs for car drivers. This could mean that, as well as putting key dashboard and navigation information in a driver's field of view, the Smart Glass may well extend content display (including videos) to side and rear windows – for hosting Car2X communications, or blacking out window glass, or making "projected text and images visible only from the inside or outside." Zeiss also points to "new levels of design freedom" being opened up for "holographic" brake lighting.

Arguably the most interesting application is the so-called holocam, which employs "coupling, decoupling and light guiding elements to divert incident light to a concealed sensor."

This would effectively negate the need for punch holes or notches to accommodate the camera and sensor, and could even mean that videocams are positioned in the middle of a display with "only a minimal effect on the brilliance of the image reproduction" – though the IAA Mobility demo example did appear limited to monochrome. Zeiss also indicates that the setup can be expanded to gather environmental data, such as air pollution and UV exposure, too.

Zeiss says that large windows in smart homes could not only host 3D "holographic" imagery, but could also channel concentrated sunlight to hidden solar cells to produce energy
Zeiss

Other possibilities include floating switches where gestures or voice commands activate holographic control elements on an otherwise flat surface in a vehicle or smart home. Window panes could serve as adjustable ambient lighting, and the micro-optical layer in glass surfaces could harvest sunlight and channel it to a hidden solar cell to produce energy.

However, Zeiss is not looking to market finished products itself but act as a system provider to OEMs, offering "unique industrial-scale replication of holograms in the form of a transparent layer to manufacturers or suppliers who wish to enhance their products and provide them with new functions." Such industrial solutions will be presented at the company's booth in the Las Vegas Convention Center West Hall at CES 2024, which opens its doors to the public on January 9.

Source: Zeiss

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6 comments
paul314
If it goes in windshields, I would love to see active tech with cameras that can figure out how to keep low-angle sun and oncoming headlights out of people's eyes.
veryken
This was precisely and accurately predicted in many sci fi movies.
Marco McClean
The camera in screen is good. You're looking into the face of the person you're talking to and not off to the side or above or below. I wonder, is the camera invisible because its components are transparent, or because it's just very small. And if it's invisible because it's that tiny, then all of a sudden the future is full of cameras. Everywhere. Cameras like dust, interconnected wirelessly, floating on the wind, providing a god's-eye view of every nook and cranny, like in the Qeng Ho ship in Vernor Vinge's /A Deepness In The Sky/.
Tag
My first thought is the same as Paul314. Track the sun or high beam headlights and throw a precise tinted spot on it so there’s one less visual hazard for drivers.
Chase
I'll believe it when I see it. Until then, I sense and unmistakable odor of vaporware.
Tommo
@paul314 @Tag I drive a Range Rover, they have Matrix headlights. Each light has a row of high powered LED bulbs. The car sees traffic in front of it and lowers the beam for that particular section of the road, it puts the car in front in the shade of the high beam, thus preventing any glare. I think other manufacturers are starting to do the same.