An augmented reality system is in the works which allows a driver to make other cars on the road seem invisible.

The system was shown at a symposium in Adelaide this month and is intended to make roads safer by removing obstacles to a clear view.

The so-called ‘See-Through System’ has been developed at the University of Porto in Portugal. It works by integrating cameras on both the trailing vehicle and the one with will be made invisible. The system works by looking through a camera that records the trailing driver's perspective. Software recognises the back of the lead vehicle, and replaces it with a video feed from a webcam mounted on that lead vehicle.

The system is just a prototype, and will only be truly safe when a current 200 millisecond delay is reduced. At the moment, at 90 kilometres an hour an oncoming car would seem about 10 metres behind where it actually is.

Hannes Kaufmann of the Vienna University of Technology in Austria said he was worried it could be dangerous.

“I think it's a good idea to support drivers to judge situations better, but it's a two-edged sword. What if the image transmission stutters?”

Click below to see the prototype in action.