If it was published a few days back we would have made it off as an April Fool’s joke, but alas, it’s not. Mini has revealed their own augmented reality glasses called Mini Augmented Vision at the Auto Shanghai show in China.

While the golden Elvis-in-Vegas/Cyclops styling might not appeal to everyone, the glasses are set to show drivers a range of information without blocking his/her direct line of sight to the road and other road users. Mini notes that the Augmented Vision eyewear increases safety and comfort while driving.

The following functions will be projected into the field of view with MINI Augmented Vision:

●       Destination entry for navigation and transfer to vehicle: Selecting destination points when outside the vehicle, then transferring them to the vehicle.

●       First Mile/Last Mile: Navigation display from the current location to the vehicle or from the vehicle to the final destination.

●       Head-up display functions: Display of speed, speed limits etc. in the eyewear so the information is in the driver’s primary field of view, with data always shown in same place above steering wheel to make sure that no road users are concealed from sight.

●       Contact-analogue navigation and points of interest: Reality is enhanced by contact-analogue navigation arrows ‘on’ the road, as well as display of points of interest along the route, such as open parking spaces.

●       Messaging: A small icon is shown in the eyewear when a message is received. The SMS/message can then be read out by the car while driving for safety.

●       X-Ray View / transparent vehicle parts: A virtual view through parts of the vehicle (such as A-pillars and doors) serves to render external areas or objects concealed by the car visible.

●       Augmented Parking: This facilitates parking by projecting the images from a camera housed in the (farside) mirror into the eyewear. In this way, the distance from the curb can be clearly and easily ascertained.

Dr. Jörg Preißinger, project-manager at Mini Augmented Vision noted that they worked with “several Qualcomm companies” as technology partner, but did not reveal much more about the hardware or other tech used.

For now, no further information about a future release date, nor the cost of the glasses is known.