People actually drove these cars, pulled up, got out, and aquarium scenes just started playing on their windows, according to the description on this Youtube video. Why? Because Dubai.
We're still trying to figure out how this was done. Projectors? Transparent LCDs?
Most systems that we've seen before that allow some sort of image to be played on car windows involve either a special foil or piece of paper that was placed on the window beforehand, rendering the car undriveable while the foil was in place, or it was some sort of combination of tints and projectors, like this video here:
Faced with this dilemma, I turned to the techie fellows over at a website called "Gizmodo," to get their take on it. The general consensus was that there's a projector inside, and this is what Andrew Liszewski had to say about it:
Yeah, I'd say given you can see a hot spot in the center of the vehicles, there's definitely a projector at work here. It's probably shooting up at the roof with a crazy fisheye lens on it to cover all of the windshields. And the inside of the glass on the windows is certainly just frosted.
But the video description says "In Dubai three cars roll up. Drivers get out and their windows start displaying aquarium scenes," which seems to imply it was a smooth transition. Not "three cars get out, drivers futz around with some paper and foil, then get out, and then we get some aquarium scenes after they press the button." Or that they were driving around town peering through frosted glass.
And nothing on Youtube ever lies, so for argument's and incredulity's sake, let's assume for a second that the description is telling the truth.
Plus, this is Dubai, land of the Bugatti Veyron police car, so you can't rule this out as an ostentatious display of wealth. So that's why I'm thinking it might be some sort of transparent LCD system. And while transparent LCDs sound like some sort of future wizardmagic that is clearly an agent of Satan, it's already real. Samsung developed the tech a few years ago, and some companies already sell it.
Either that, or the cars are fitted with electrochromatic glass, which can appear frosted at just the touch of a button.
Either way, Dubai is a ridiculous place.