Shift Magazine - April 2020 - 13

HONOREES
CONTINENTAL * dlhBOWLES
LUNEWAVE * MARELLI * MERITOR
OSRAM OPTO SEMICONDUCTORS
SHILOH * STEALTHPATH
TRANSIENT PLASMA SYSTEMS
YAZAKI NORTH AMERICA * ZF

TURNING THE CORNER
Continental virtual A-pillar provides clarity
BY ALEXA ST. JOHN

ge-old questions of whether traditional sun visors serve
more as a hindrance to a driver's field of view than as an
aid also apply to today's chunky A-pillars.
A-pillars, the vertical supports that anchor the windshield
and provide a foundation for the roof, can block pedestrians,
signs and other vehicles from a
driver's view.
A-pillars have been expanded
over the years under federal roofcrush standards to act as a safety
feature. But the beefier the pillar,
the more obstructed the view.
To address these concerns,
supplier Continental developed
what the company calls a virtual
A-pillar.
It combines Continental's external surround-view vision systems
with curved displays mounted on
the A-pillar and a driver monitoring camera inside the vehicle. They create what appears like a
window on the A-pillar.
"Rollover prevention or rollover accident safety is still paramount when you think of overall vehicle structure," Zack Bolton,
innovation lead at Continental Interior Systems and Technology
North America, told Shift.

But Continental discovered that "a lot of times the A-pillars,
B-pillars, C-pillars were getting larger, and no matter how we
tried to actually keep the driver's seat position in the optimum
spot, it still occluded quite a bit of visibility," Bolton said.
The driver monitoring camera tracks where the driver's eyes
are as the driver moves his or her
head. This enables the A-pillar
display to adjust the perspective
of the image to line up with what
the driver sees through the side
window and windshield.
Bolton said the virtual A-pillar -
largely built to accompany other
advanced driver-assistance systems - could reduce collisions
with vehicles and pedestrians or
other vulnerable road users, such
as cyclists.
Continental said its system is
ready for production but declined
to name the first customer.
The need for some kind of solution is clear.
Last fall, a teenager in Pennsylvania demonstrated a similar
A-pillar system that includes a webcam, projector, 3D-printed
adapter and retroreflective fabric to display the image of a
vehicle's blind spot onto the pillar, CNN reported. n

april 2020 * shift

Shift Magazine - April 2020

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