It looks like a scene from Tron, but this is how a driverless car sees the streets and buildings of London. At least, it might be.
The eerie footage is from The Dream Life of Driverless Cars, a project by ScanLAB, which weaves a 3D laser scanner through our capital. Although the footage is not actually from a driverless car (apparent from the ambitious range of angles), it uses similar technology. The aim, says ScanLAB, is to explore "how driverless vehicles might perceive — and misperceive — the world."
Landmarks like the Houses of Parliament and Tower Bridge appear distorted and ghostly. An elongated bus shows how time is mapped as physical objects move through space.
Says ScanLAB, "When viewing the film, the onlooker questions how this data is being recorded and used, and what this means for our own perception of our environments when experienced through the lens of technology."
The Dream Life of Driverless Cars was originally produced for the New York Times, and is now being presented for the first time as part of Contemporary Cartography, a free exhibition at the Building Centre in Fitzrovia. It's on till 30 August.
