Rear Camera Mirror Turns Heads

High-res video streaming removes obstructions
like passengers, head rests, roof and rear pillars

By Bill McLauchlan

Sometimes drivers of a certain age may be excused for wishing they had eyes in the back of their head. Advancing age and its associated aches and pains, reduced flexibility and stiffening joints can make it a pain to perform routine tasks such as shoulder checks or torso twists to ensure all’s clear before reversing down the driveway or out of a mall parking spot.

Well, help is here and it looks good. The only drawback is that, at present, only one car maker offers it . . . and availability might be beyond some car buying budgets.

Cadillac’s Rear Camera Mirror has just been named a 2015 Popular Science “Best of What’s New” award winner. The annual awards cover the magazine’s choices of the year’s top 100 technology innovations and appear in the December issue.

© General Motors

“The awards honour innovations that surprise and amaze us – those that challenge our view of what’s possible in the future,” said Cliff Ransom, editor-in-chief of Popular Science. “The award is Popular Science’s top prize, and the 100 winners – chosen from among thousands of nominees – are each a revolution in their respective fields.”

The Rear Camera Mirror will be available on Cadillac’s upcoming 2016 CT6 sedan (below) and 2017 XT5 crossover models.

© General Motors

The streaming video mirror improves field of vision by an estimated 300 percent, or roughly four times greater than a standard rearview mirror. The high-resolution streaming video function will remove obstructions of passengers, headrests and the vehicle’s roof and rear pillars.

There’s more good news for aging eyes and drivers who dislike driving at night. Thanks to a high dynamic range, the camera’s video feed reduces glare and allows a crisper image in low-light situations versus a traditional glass electrochromatic, or auto-dimming, rearview mirror.

The in-mirror display is an industry-leading 1280 by 240-pixel TFT-LCD display with 171 pixels per inch, combined with a high-definition camera designed specifically to enhance rear view lane width and maximize low-light situations.
A water-shedding hydrophobic coating is applied to the camera to keep it clean and able to maintain visibility regardless of driving conditions.