Tesla Leads Charge To Replace Side Mirrors With Cameras

Cameron Aubernon
by Cameron Aubernon

Should Tesla and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers — including General Motors, Toyota and Volkswagen — be successful in their petition with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, new cars could soon have cameras instead of side mirrors.

Automotive News reports the petition — on the heels of the agency mandating rearview cameras by 2018 in all light-duty vehicles — explains cameras could do the same job as mirrors while allowing for increased aerodynamics:

In light of future greenhouse gas and corporate average fuel economy requirements beginning in 2017, camera-based systems represent an opportunity to increase vehicle fuel efficiency through improved aerodynamics by eliminating externally mounted mirrors.

Current regulations place cameras as a supplement to side mirrors, with Nissan, Honda and Mercedes-Benz offering such systems, while Volkswagen’s XL1 is one of a few vehicles to do away with mirrors by using cameras in their stead.

Cameron Aubernon
Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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  • Jmo Jmo on Apr 01, 2014

    Just so we're all on the same page - everyone knows the retail price of a web cam is below $10? Right? http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/StaplesProductDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogIdentifier=2&partNumber=IM1DT2595&langid=-1&nAID=17588969&KPID=IM1DT2595

    • See 4 previous
    • Elena Elena on Apr 02, 2014

      @u mad scientist CCD or CMOS, Sony Effio if you want without digital signal processing will be worthless. Wide angle lens with low distortion and good resolution... Not even close to a "board mounted lens camera".

  • 05lgt 05lgt on Apr 01, 2014

    I'm all for it. I think cars can look better without the mirrors. Sure, as an option it will be a huge markup for fat profit for about a week. Then competition sets in.

  • Sitting@home Sitting@home on Apr 01, 2014

    It always amuses me when we see something on the "Junkyard find" articles that someone thought would be the next best idea but turned out to be a historical joke; those standard sealed beam highlights, up-shift indicators and motorized seat belts spring immediately to mind. In ten years we'll have junkyard finds of Teslas with no mirrors and sideswipe damage and will be lamenting the multiple "unforeseen" problems because the rear view cameras got covered in grime, the HUD image was washed out in bright daylight and some 14 year-old found out how to hack the software so that it always displayed porn.

  • Dtremit Dtremit on Apr 01, 2014

    One of the reasons this hasn't happened yet is because cameras are actually a fairly poor substitute for mirrors. Mirrors are intuitive and provide more information than a camera; they preserve stereopsis and allow for motion parallax. Move your head, and the image shifts in a way that allows the brain to intuitively understand more of the view.

    • CRConrad CRConrad on Apr 02, 2014

      Some cars already have sensors following the driver's eye movements. Hook those up to the cameras, and hey presto, "Move your head, and the image shifts in a way that allows the brain to intuitively understand more of the view" with cameras, too. (Yeah, I know, ridiculously over-complex... But quite feasible. Just saying.)

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