Imagine walking along a steepmountain pass . The track is minute , and each step is punic . Your ft need to be in the best spatial relation , and you have to constantly check the quality of the ground you ’re stepping on to know how much power you’re able to use to press off .
Now imagine doing that while carry a lot more weight unit and without being capable to see the earth directly in front of you . chilling , right ? When you ’re driving an off - road fomite , that ’s pretty much what ’s happening . Off - roaddrivers need to commit their wheel precisely and know exactly what sort of terrain they ’re on , but the pesky engine compartment and hood are always in the room . That ’s where the Land Rover invisible hood comes in .
While many people colligate the Land Rover trade name with pure luxury , and , yes , it ’s true that some Land Rover drivers do n’t take their SUVs through anything more rugged than a puddle , the companionship ’s off - route heritage is well found . Land Rover has created vehicles for the British Army and developed some of the most sophisticated off - road systems and capable vehicle in the humanity . So while a Land Rover ’s interior is probably nicer than the inside of your house , it ’s not just designed for showing off . At its core , a Land Rover is built to get masses as far away from civilization as potential .
But , safety first : To travel far away from civilisation and off the ticktack path , you need to roll in the hay where your SUV ’s wheels are , just like you need to be able to see your feet to hike safely . For many off - roaders , a hood that rent you see through the car ’s locomotive true laurel and now to the route below and in front of you is just what the doctor ordered .
Why Land Rover?
Many the great unwashed opine of Land Rovers as justluxury vehicles . They ’re not totally untimely : The least - expensive Land Rover offered in the United States starts at $ 36,000 , and prices of to the full - adulterate fashion model can easily top $ 100,000 [ author : Land Rover Consumer ] . Though Land Rovers may be the vehicle of choice for the royal family of Great Britain and the second wife of American investment bankers , for many owners , Land Rover ’s solicitation fit beyond veridical - Grant Wood trim , effete leather , cool down boozing console and 500 horsepower engines . First and foremost , Land Rovers are built to be off - roading machines . The coddling seats ( with optional massage ) are just the icing on the cake .
The first Land Rover was build in 1948 by the Rover Company . Back then , Land Rover was n’t an entire vehicle brand ; it was just one model of car that the company made . produce by Maurice Wilks to be as utile as a tractor , but as capable on - road as it was off , the Land Rover was inspired by the originalWillys Jeep . In fact , former looping of the Land Rover used a Willys Jeep with a Rover locomotive engine and gearbox . Wanting something more broken than the Jeep ( which , by the way , had just test itself supremely capable in WWII , so it ’s not like Wilks was trying to build a better off - road auto than a VW Beetle ) , Wilks settle to build a new off - route model from the undercoat up [ source : Hackett ] .
The original Land Rover was bare clappers . It had piddling sound - deadening material , no power steerage , no mogul brake and full - time four - wheel drive . It could even play farm equipment from a power take - off on its hind end . Now , take a consequence and endeavor to imagine a flush blonde woman in yoga pants using her Land Rover Range Rover Sport to cover a subject field . Tough to picture , good ? Nevertheless , that ’s the ascendent of one of the most voluptuous cars on the road today .
Before you start researching which Land Rover you desire to employ to run your farm , you ’ll probably want to learn more about the Land Rover invisible hood feature . After all , if you ’re in reality going to use a $ 100,000 S.U.V. to commit a manure broadcaster , you ’ll desire to screw what the terrain in front of you is like .
Why an invisible hood?
The Land Rover invisible hood ( the company officially calls it the Transparent Bonnet , because that ’s how them - there - sept talk in England ) debut on the Land Rover Discovery Vision Concept fomite at the 2014 New York International Auto Show [ source : Land Rover Debuts ] . To sympathise why an invisible cowl is important for off - roading , you ’re going to want an oversized shirt and a pillow . fraught women , and guys whoenjoy beer , can just use their bellies .
OK , put on the gargantuan shirt and stuff a pillow under it . Now stand up . If you could still see your feet and the area straightaway in front of them , you need a big pillow . Not being capable to see your invertebrate foot or the ground just in front of them is n’t a big deal when you ’re walking on an even floor . It ’s not like you take the air around your firm looking down , after all . The ground is smooth and level , so muscular tissue memory just take over . That ’s like push back on a paved road . you may see at a glance that the surface is smooth , so you may just labor over it . As long as you keep your wheel on the road Earth’s surface , you ’re fine .
Now , take your giant pillow / beer / infant stomach outside and attempt to take the air over some uneven primer . It ’s not so wanton , is it ? When we walk over grating terrain , we mechanically look down . We need to see what we ’re getting into . When you ca n’t see what you ’re about to step on , it pee-pee getting around much more unmanageable .
At least when you ’re walking and ca n’t see , you may use your feet to feel the terrain . You also might essay craning your cervix around the curve of your belly . In a car or SUV , however , these are n’t really options . As anyone who has ever had to drive a car up on ramps or down an icy dirt road can separate you , not being able to see what your bike are about to hail in contact with is tough . In fact , when you ’re crawling alongmountain roadsand over boulders , it ’s downright terrific . One wrong move and you could spite or down yourself — not to mention that Land Rover fixture are n’t cheap .
For all these reason ( and more ) , a Land Rover with an invisible thug is a reasonably ready to hand thing to have . Next , we ’ll talk about what makes the invisible hood , well , invisible .
How it’s Done
Being capable to see through your car ’s thug is actually fairly simple . First , be born on the give-up the ghost planet Krypton and have your parents send you to Earth , where our yellow sun will give you major power . flunk that , have some sort of accident in a science lab that result in you gaining decade - ray sight .
Just chaff .
The Land Rover invisible hood works with cameras and a heads - up presentation in the windshield . television camera are mounted in the Land Rover Discovery Vision ’s grillwork . The images those cameras capture are then projected onto a heads - up display on the car ’s windshield . The effect is such that when you look down through the windscreen , the hood is blocked by the exhibit , in effect disappearing because the ground below it is cast on top of it .
With the invisible hoodlum , the driver has a much light view of where the wheels are , which take climb a steep incline or nosing along a thin trail much easier . The applied science has less furrowed uses too : It gain turning into a small space , say a garage , much easy . This means that the blonde in the yoga pants will be far less likely to slay her husband ’s golf clubs when she pull into the garage , because the car will no longer block her view of the ground straightaway in front of her .
The invisible hood is just one more organisation that Land Rover offers to make off - roading easier . Not only do all Land Rovers have systems that modify how the fomite reacts to various drive surfaces , but they also have available camera systems that let their driver see what all four cycle are up to . The invisible hood is special , however , because it jut out the trope on the car ’s windscreen , so the driver does n’t have to turn and depend at a television video display . Land Rover also has off - road systems that mechanically control the brakes and strangulate when drive down a exorbitant James Jerome Hill , make any off - route journeying safe , and allowing anyone , even the Queen of England , to look like an off - road professional .
While Land Rover has n’t announced any plan yet to bring the unseeable hood to production , it ’s an interesting approximation — and one that may invoke to people beyond off - roaders . After all , lots of people scoffed at backup cameras , too , and now it ’s been evidence that they assist reduce the likeliness of serious accident [ germ : IIHS ] . Land Rovers are big SUVs , and it can be rugged to see what ’s straight in front of you when drive one . An invisible punk could prevent people from unintentionally drive over a little child . And , at the very least , it might make parking a great deal easier .
Lots More Information
Land Rovers are some of my best-loved cars , and each time I essay - drive one , I am scratch by how complex and fresh they ’ve become . Just dial - in the sort of condition you ’re confront , and the SUV takes care of it . What ’s strike about the invisible cowling , however , is how simple it is . Ask me to explicate James Jerome Hill descent control , and I ’m going to need several hundred words to do it . The unseeable hood ? It ’s just camera and a display . make me marvel why no one ever thought of it before .
