Skip to main content

Jaguar Land Rover’s eye-tracking tech lets you control your wipers with your eyes

Jaguar Land Rover Eye Tracking
Gizmag
Earlier this year, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) announced a new partnership with Intel and occupational tech company Seeing Machines to develop fatigue-detecting eye-tracking technology. The endeavor’s main goal was to prevent nodding off behind the wheel, but it turns out the system could have other, stranger applications.

According to a new report by Gizmag, the British automaker is perfecting a way that a driver can operate his or her rear windscreen wiper using only their eyes.

Recommended Videos

Yes, safety and distracted driving detection may get all the headlines, but there’s nothing like an eye-activated rear wiper to show off to your friends.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

As it often does, JLR’s solution started with a problem. Rear wipers are typically used intermittently, and when they do come on, they often obscure the back window, which is counterintuitive.

Jaguar Land Rover Eye Tracking
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The new system combats that by activating the rear wiper when it senses the driver’s eye moving toward the rear mirror. That way, it will have already taken care of business by the time the operator takes a peek out back, assuming the moisture had not been dispersed just before that.

It may not be sexy, but it’s definitely a feature we could see on a new Range Rover or Land Rover, or perhaps Jaguar’s upcoming J-Pace SUV.

This is most recent example of JLR’s forward-thinking use of next-gen tech, but it certainly won’t be the last.

In April, the brand announced the Portland, Oregon-based ‘Innovation Incubator,’ a type of think tank designed to make advances in the world of automotive infotainment. Kicking off this month, the carmaker says the Incubator will work with around 120 startup companies over the next ten years.

Andrew Hard
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Andrew first started writing in middle school and hasn't put the pen down since. Whether it's technology, music, sports, or…
Watch Mars 2020 rover’s final preparations for July 30 liftoff
In a clean room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, engineers observed the first driving test for NASA's Mars 2020 rover on Dec. 17, 2019.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission this week cleared NASA’s Flight Readiness Review, allowing the team to go for launch at 7:50 a.m. (ET) on Thursday, July 30. Of course, weather conditions or an unexpected issue could change that, but if everything runs as planned over the next week and the climatic conditions over the launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida, are calm, then we can look forward to the exciting spectacle of United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket lifting off as scheduled.

A week ahead of the much-anticipated departure, NASA has posted a short video (below) showing Perseverance’s cross-country journey to the launchpad. as well as the procedure for getting it aboard the rocket.

Read more
Google’s new smart textile tech lets you control music by pinching a cord
google home smart speaker deal walmart

Google has been actively exploring ways to expand virtual interactions beyond touchscreens and voice assistants. After pioneering touch-sensitive denim jackets and hands-free radar phone controls, Google’s research division is now experimenting with weaving technology into fabrics.

Called "E-Textiles," the concept takes advantage of textile braiding techniques to enable cords to sense gestures. This could potentially allow people to, for instance, control their music by pinching the wire of their headphones or skipping the track by twisting their hoodie’s strings. Google says the research, for now, exclusively focuses on "drawstrings in garments and as wired connections for data and power across consumer devices," since they’re commonly used.

Read more
TikTok now lets you control your kid’s account from your own TikTok
tiktok

TikTok is expanding parental controls -- while simultaneously encouraging parents to download the app themselves.

TikTok’s family pairing, announced Thursday, April 16, allows parents to set restrictions on everything from screen time to direct messages without going into the child’s device.

Read more