Toyota Patent Promises “See-Through” Door Pillars

Toyota Motor Corp. has filed a U.S. patent for a system that uses a series of mirrors to help motorists see objects that would otherwise would be blocked by a vehicle’s door pillars.

The so-called cloaking device consists of boundary planes oriented non-planar to each other with outward facing mirror surfaces and inward facing opaque surfaces.

Half mirrors are positioned parallel to the outward surfaces, which allows light from a roadside object to be directed around a door pillar to form an image on the other side, thereby making the pillar appear transparent.

Toyota says its system would be less complex and more affordable than similar concepts that rely on video cameras and advanced “metamaterials.”