A patent application filed by BMW at the European Patent Office reveals that the brand will develop an invisible sun visor for cars.
BMW has filed a patent application with the European Patent Office describing an invisible sun visor for cars.
The sun visor is made of a material that only becomes opaque when it is necessary to block the sun, and remains transparent the rest of the time.
In traditional cars, sun visors are not in the way when they are folded up against the roof. They first become a problem in cars with a panoramic roof, because the screens sit against a mostly transparent background and can detract from the spacious feeling that a glass roof normally gives the cabin.
There is no way to hide them completely when not in use. The car manufacturers try to solve this by making the sun visors narrower so that they can be hidden against the windscreen and do not overlap the glass.
The downside is that the screens may not be big enough to block out the sun when it's really needed.
In addition, electrochromic glass is too slow to react for use as a quick shield against the sun's rays.
BMW's solution is to make a screen from a transparent material so that it effectively becomes invisible without blocking the view of a panoramic roof.
The sun visor can then be made opaque in an instant, presumably in the same way that glass roofs from automakers such as Porsche can be made instantly opaque with the push of a button.
BMW goes one step further. The Germans believe that the system can also take into account and react to factors such as time, place and weather to automatically make the sun visor opaque. The same must be able to see by physical touch.
BMW does not disclose what they think the new invention should be made of. But it will probably have to be a completely transparent material like plastic or glass. But as Carmoses points out, that leaves a few challenges to overcome, such as:
- That it puts a question mark on safety compared to a screen made of softer plastic
- That glass more easily reveals unsightly stains and fingerprints
- To offer separate sun visors for liners and passengers or to retain the current pivoting design
