As a child I used to imagine a man running alongside the car during long family car trips; a parallel adventure that happened  outside the car as we approached obstacles on the road, different landscapes or  tunnels.

Today's children can play the same game but with much more possibilities. Engineers and designers from Toyota Motor Europe (TME ) and the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID) have developed a technology based on touch-screen glass that would allow you to interact graphically with the objects that lie through the other side of the window.

"Window to the World," as Toyota has called this concept, could be used as a canvas for drawings, which interacts with the passing landscape - something that children would love - but it can also provide passengers with information about landmarks and other objects as they go past. You just have to select an item and then you will have information about it, like a multimedia encyclopedia of what's going on around you as you go along.

With this technology you can highlight objects in the distance and then do a zoom-in and see them bigger on the screen. Other applications would be translating road signs or posters in another language in real time.

For those who love planets and the outer space, the "Virtual Constellations" application is a must. According to the CIID, "the car's panoramic roof displays virtual constellations and information about them with the actual sky as a background."

Prototypes of Toyota's "Window to the World" concept will be displayed at the "Our Future Mobility Now" show by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA), from June 22 to 25 at the Autoworld Museum in Brussels, Belgium.

In the meantime there is a video about the concept that is going viral on internet.