Everyone from Harry Potter to Frodo Baggins has already got an invisibility cloak.
But scientists have now figured out how to make an entire car disappear.
Using optical camouflage technology boffins at Mercedes Benz created the illusion that their new zero emissions F-Cell car is not even there at all.
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New trend: Everyone from Harry Potter to Frodo Baggins has already got an invisibility cloak
Taking the principal that to see through something you need to see what’s behind it, they covered the driver’s side of the car in mats of LEDs, and mounted a digital SLR camera on the opposite side of the vehicle.
The camera shoots video on the passenger side of the car and the video is displayed in real time on the driver side of the automobile.
This ingenious approach, originally pioneered by scientists at the University of Tokyo, works on the same principles of the blue screen used by TV weather forecasters and Hollywood filmmakers.
The idea also mimics the iPad 2 Halloween costume that seems to displays a gaping hole in the human body.
The next conundrum-what to do with an invisible car ? Take it on a week long tour of Germany, obviously.
In Mercedes’ promotional video, stupefied Muggles stare and fall about in shock as the team put the car through its paces along the highways of Hamburg and the bridges of Bavaria.
Meanwhile online. while some pessimistic YouTube users were wary, anticipating that invisible cars would no doubt lead to brutal crashes, others fantasised about bring able to park anywhere at all, without getting a ticket.
Hi tech: Scientists have now figured out how to make an entire car invisible
Mind blowing: Using optical camouflage technology boffins at Mercedes Benz created an illusion
See though: Scientists covered the driver’s side of the car in mats of LEDs, and mounted a digital SLR camera on the opposite side of the vehicle
How it works: The camera shoots video on the passenger side of the car and the video is displayed in real time on the driver side. It can also be lit up with a pattern or message
Showing off: The next conundrum was what to do with an invisible car ? Take it on a week long tour of Germany obviously
Ingenious: The approach originally pioneered by scientists at the University of Tokyo works on the same principles of the blue screen used by TV weather forecasters and Hollywood filmmakers
Preparation: Mercedes-Benz engineers kit out the car with LEDs
While Mercedes-Benz claims to be ready to mass produce hydrogen-powered vehicles, the cost of production is still prohibitive.
Engineers have created a low-cost catalyst for hydrogen production, but the actual cost of the vehicles is out of reach for most European and American customers,digital trends.com reported.
A Mercedes-Benz F-CELL car can travel up to 250 miles using an electric engine equivalent to 134 horsepower.
Commercial hydrogen-powered cars may not arrive for real until 2015, analysts anticipate, the major problem in the US being the cost of establishing proper equipment at gas stations.
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