Imagine yourself driving down a highway. Immediately ahead of you is a large commercial truck. This truck is going more slowly than you would like to be going, but you are unsure of whether or not you should try to pass it because you cannot see properly around it. What do you do? Do you take a risk or do you drive slowly behind the truck until you can make absolutely sure that it is safe to pass the massive vehicle?

Samsung recently unveiled a prototype that may eventually help motorists solve this exact safety problem. The prototype essentially consists of a wireless camera mounted to the front of a large truck. The camera is designed to film a view of oncoming and surrounding traffic. The images that the camera films are then transmitted onto a video wall created by several exterior monitors mounted onto the back of the truck.

This prototype may serve motorists particularly well when they are traveling on two-lane highways. In these situations, it can be truly dangerous to pass large trucks if motorists cannot properly perceive what is occurring in the oncoming lane of traffic.

The design that Samsung recently released is ingenious specifically because it can be used by existing vehicles. If this design was ever put on sale for the general public, commercial truck drivers and fleet owners could mount the cameras and monitors on trucks already produced and on the road. So often, new technology is only available for new models. In this instance, older models could benefit from this technology as well. Hopefully Samsung will keep this critical point in mind while contemplating if and how to move forward with marketing this prototype.

Source: Forbes, “Samsung ‘Safety Truck’ Makes It Easier For Drivers To See The Road Ahead Before Trying To Pass,” Federico Guerrini, June 22, 2015