BMW is working on a night-sight system developed by the military to help making night driving safer.

Engineers at the German car maker believe that in the future, night-sight vision could be developed as a safety bonus.

They said images provided by an infra-red camera, could be available through a head-up-display or monitor allowing the driver to see behind the area lit by his car's own headlights.

The car firm has been working on possible uses of infra-red technology since 1988.

A first try consisted of three different cameras - one for far infra-red, another for near infra-red and for alignment purposes, a third camera for visible light.

The cameras were positioned outside of the car, because the windscreen only lets a portion of infra-red light through.

The results of the project, which ended in 1994 showed that infra-red systems offered much stronger contrasts of people or moving vehicles - but only if it is neither snowing, raining, nor foggy.

Story date: Wednesday 16 February

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