Alaina Gassler, a student at Avon Grove Charter School, could save lives with her simple but effective invention to help alleviate blind spots in cars, writes Nursah Ergü for InterestingEngineering.com.

Many cars today have external blind-spot detection that includes visual, audible, and vibrational aids to warn the driver about other vehicles, cyclists, or pedestrians that they cannot see.

But now there is another solution for inside the car, thanks to Gassler, 14, a West Grove resident. Gassler took part in the Broadcom MASTERS competition organized by the Society for Science and the Public for middle school students with her project “Improving Automobile Safety by Removing Blind Spots.”

“I did that by having a camera behind the A-pillar of a car and the camera sent the video to a projector that projected the image onto the pillar essentially making it invisible and making the driver see behind it,” said Gassler.

For the project, she only needed a camera, projector, 3D printer, and a retro-reflective fabric.

Her invention won her the top spot in the competition and the $25,000 Samueli Foundation Prize.

Read more about the invention at InterestingEngineering.com here.

[uam_ad id=”64837″]