14-year-old won $25,000 for creating a prototype designed to eliminate a car's blind spots

[catbyte]

Link to tweet

14-year-old Alaina Gassler won a $25,000 prize for creating a prototype designed to eliminate a car's blind spots

[bluedye33139]

1. Blind-spots scared me when I started driving

It seems really odd that there were two regions where car could be and I would never know.

[dware]

4. I operate a big rig,

just think of the blind spots I have to deal with.
I wonder if her invention would work on my Tractor/Trailer?

[Niagara]

8. Welcome to DU, dware

It looks like it.

[Fla Dem]

2. Wow, how at 14 do you even have the technical knowledge to conceive something like this.

I am always amazed at these young Einsteins. It's like they are born with the knowledge. Reincarnation maybe?

[Cirque du So-What]

3. More likely explanation

is looking at a problem with a fresh set of eyes. That's not to detract from their natural abilities, just to tout the value of fresh perspectives on problems.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Having test driven quite a few passenger cars over the years,

I almost always notice the blind spots. Some cars are worse than others. Some years back I rejected a particular car because of what I thought were really bad blind spots. Not long after a friend bought one of those, and a few months later was complaining about the blind spots.

People need to pay attention to everything when they test drive a car.

What's really shocking to me is that the car manufacturers seem oblivious to the problem and continue to design cars as they do.

[catbyte]

6. I bought a 2019 Subaru Forester Sport in August. It's awesome. It has a blind spot detection

system, but it's really unnecessary. It's got so many unobstructed windows all around that it's like driving in an aquarium. There are no blind spots to speak of. It's nothing like the 2011 Jeep Liberty I used to drive. That thing had such big blind spots that I'd hurt my neck craning it to make sure it was safe to pass on the freeway.

[LeftInTX]

10. Blind spots are pretty much the main factor for me!

I've got a 2013 Subaru Forester which has a fairly boxy rear window along with decent far back windows

[brush]

7. Kool! She's someone to watch for. We'll be hearing about her...

innovations in the future.

My car has the same blind spot, combined with the outside mirror it's even larger than just the "A" pillar.

[Niagara]

9. Way to go, Alaina

I had purchased a brand new car back in 2003. The A pillars in the new car were considerably thicker compared to the old car due to collision protection. I had almost pulled out in front of someone in the new car because of the blind spots of the A pillars.

We need to use this technology for safety.