Bill Harvey: Technology for the benefit of all

Many years ago, a national newspaper ran a story describing how scientists working for a major car manufacturer had managed to design windscreens capable of correcting a driver’s refractive error, so doing away with the need to wear specs for driving. The story garnered enough publicity for a well-known authority on lenses to write a piece on it in this very publication. The story, however, turned out to be an April fool.

I was reminded of the story when, earlier this week, the electric car giant Tesla announced their driverless cars will include viewing devices capable of seeing around corners. Though still at an early trial stage, the devices comprise a laser and a photon detector which complement radar and GPS information to allow detection of reflective surfaces even if out of visual field. I checked – the report in the latest issue of Nature is not an April fool.