I drove a car with the windows blacked out using only its cameras

I horde a car with the windows blacked verboten using only its cameras

Driver sitting in driving seat of blacked out Kia EV6

(Image credit: Adam Warner)

Getting into a car with all the windows blacked out is surreal. Being asked to then drive it is a little bit terrifying.

Withal, with the advancement of in-car technology and the increasing number of cameras we're seeing fitted to new vehicles, it is possible to drive a car without being able to see stunned of the windows.

I got the chance to experience on the button this with the Kia EV6 – the Asian country firm's latest electric motorcar.

The EV6 is stuffed fully of cameras, from the offstage mirrors to the windshield to the bumpers. This means information technology can give you a full 360-degree bird's eye watch around the car, as well as front- and nates-facing shots.

The camera on the wing mirrors plane gives you views down for each one side of the fomite, all of which came in handy when driving without window visibility.

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View inside from an open driver's door — (Image credit: TechRadar / John McCann)

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Shot through an ajar door looking into the cabin of the EV6 — (Image reference: Adam Warner)

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View of the blacked out windshield from outside the car — (Figure of speech credit: TechRadar / John McCann)

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Kia EV6 driving round a course in a parking lot — (Image credit: Adam Charles Dudley Warner)

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Man standing at open driver's door of a green EV6 — (Image credit: XTC Warner)

A new perspective

As the threshold closed, the DoI EV6 old considerably. The black vinyl stickers Kia had placed over the Windows did allow some close light-headed through, but there was zero visibility.

It felt a trifle eerie, but as I flicked done the choice of different camera views in stock to me on the main 12.3-inch display I began to feel a little more confident.

You'll be pleased to learn this test wasn't winning place on a public road, but rather in a closed car park with a course of cones set out for me to navigate direct.

I started tentatively as I worked out exactly where the cameras connected the car put across and hence where on the button the car was session in the tangle of cones.

The start flex, a relatively gentle left hander, went by easily, then again the course narrowed to just wider than the EV6 and pin-taper precision was required.

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View of the blacked out windshield from inside the car — (Image credit: TechRadar / John McCann)

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Driver's view of the blacked out windshield — (Image credit: TechRadar / John McCann)

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Close-up of the main display showing a live view from the cameras — (Image credit: TechRadar / John McCann)

Trope 4 of 4

I was able to navigate into a parking bay tree and reverse out without issue, but I then got carried away along a tight left-hander, which saw Maine eat a cone.

It was a bit unsatisfying, but I had now got a handle on the size and spatial arrangement of the car and was able to complete the rest of course at a modest set without blame.

So, it is possible to drive a automobile solely with its inbuilt cameras. Would I advocate IT? Well, no. It's obviously nowhere near safe enough to attempt anything equivalent this on the traveling, but it was a fun demonstration of just how far technology has come.

What this does show is the kind of data in stock to our cars. Add these live views to the respective other sensors and radio detection and ranging systems found in modern EVs and you begin to understand how we're edging ever finisher to high liberty.

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John joined TechRadar a decade ago As Staff Writer for Phones, and over the years has built risen a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He's interviewed CEOs of close to of the world's biggest technical school firms, visited their HQs and has appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky Newsworthiness, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC and BBC Radio 4. Originally specializing in phones, tablets and wearables, Toilet is nowadays TechRadar's resident automotive skilled, reviewing the latest and greatest EVs and PHEVs on the commercialize. Saint John the Apostle also looks after the daily running of the site.