Virtual Cable: Best sat-nav concept ever?

Satellite navigation looks set to get a whole lot sexier. A company called Making Virtual Solid has unveiled plans for Virtual Cable -- a heads-up display that projects your route directly on to the windscreen.

Instead of taking your eyes off the road to look at a separate sat-nav display, you simply use your peripheral vision to watch the 3D red line emanating from the top of your windscreen, Engadget reports. It curves left or right, up or down, reflecting your chosen route, so it's a bit like driving in a tram, but without the need to stand next to sweaty commuters.

The system is said to use a volumetric heads-up display (HUD) device located behind the dashboard of your car. This is hidden behind a mesh and embedded in a transparent panel in front of the driver, and can connect to an existing navigation system -- though the Virtual Cable itself must be factory installed. Making Virtual Solid reckons it should cost approximately $400 (£200) when released.

The system doesn't exist aside from a proof of concept, but Making Virtual Solid has filed numerous patents, which you can take a look at here. Final versions should feature all the usual sat-nav trickery including voice alerts, but more interesting are the the souped-up extras such as road-departure accident prevention, dynamic maximum speed control, tailgating avoidance and collision avoidance.

We're pretty excited by this thing. Not only does it seem safer than taking your eyes off the road to look at a separate screen, but it's also infinitely cooler. Watch the video demos by going to the MVS Web site. -Rory Reid