An intriguing optical illusion has been leaving social media users scratching their heads this week.
Footage recorded by a vehicle's dash cam in Singapore recently shows the moment a silver car appears, as if from nowhere, right in front of another car that is exiting a busy intersection.
The video ended up going viral, with various media outlets referring to the vehicle as a 'ghost car'.
According to reports, nobody was injured in the smash, however there has been a lot of confusion over exactly where the offending vehicle came from at the moment of the collision.
The answer, as it turns out, is that it was actually there all along, moving towards the right just as the white car was doing the same. From the perspective of the camera, the silver car is hidden from view and only becomes visible when the white car stops at the intersection.
The shadows on the road and the distortion of the dash cam also help to cement the illusion.
Standard situation here in Germany, these are pensioners driving Opel Vectra/VW Passat/Skoda Fabia. They are coming out of nowhere all of a sudden and have no idea where they are and why.
2 possiblities : hoax : video editing. How could the driver stop at the last second if he can't see the car beforehand? One answer, the driver saw the car coming and the video is edited or that car is hidden behind the car and only 3s of video is not enough to see where it's coming from
I've looked at this quite closely. I absolutely can NOT see the little hatchback until i just 'appears'. Look at the speed it is going at.... it was NOT 'shielded' by the white car... the geometry just doesn't add up. Nor is their any sign of an "underground car park" exit. Fake video ? Conceivably, but VERY well done, considering it is a three-body issue. (the camera is moving, as well as the two cars.) Creating a matte of the background (to superimpose over the hatchback, shielding it from view) would be tricky to accomplish without leaving artifacts. I'm very puzzled.
The geometry adds up for me. That hidden car is tiny. OTOH, my brain wants to reject it as "improbable." The problem with that is that random chance not only allows improbable things (like perfect alignment/motion in this case) to (occasionally) happen, it compels them. My instinctive "argument from personal incredulity" would be weak.
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