Nissan has detailed its Smart Rearview Mirror ahead of the technology’s debut at the Geneva show. The system involves an LCD monitor built into the rear-view mirror that provides rearward visibility courtesy of a high-res camera mounted on the rear of the vehicle.
A switch toggles between the LCD and a traditional mirror. Nissan says the LCD provides a wider and clearer view than a standard mirror, including of the vehicle’s rear flanks. This eliminates problems associated with thick and obstructive rear pillars, tall passengers in the rear seats or boot cargo blocking the rear window.
A clear image is provided no matter the weather, due to an image processing system that compensates for sunrise, sunset and even headlamp glare. The 1.3 megapixel camera is narrow-angle – Nissan says a standard wide-angle lens was not possible because the images, when adjusted to monitor size, produced a low-res image.
Conventional monitors have a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio, but these could not be adequately displayed in a rear-view mirror, so an LCD with a unique aspect ratio of approximately 4:1 was developed.
“Smart Rearview Mirror will give our customers the best possible view no matter how tall the passengers in the back seat, or the road conditions,” said Nissan executive VP Andy Palmer.
“It also offers the possibility of new and exciting designs for our upcoming models because Smart Rearview Mirror is an alternative to a very wide rear window for good visibility. We’ll have the flexibility to create new shapes, and to further improve aerodynamics for better fuel efficiency.”
The Smart Rearview Mirror is set to be used first in the ZEOD RC and other Nismo race cars. Nissan plans to offer the system as a dealer option in Japan this spring, before it hits global markets from next year.
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good idea, never thought of it b4.
All lookin’ good, until suddenly…..spider climbs onto the
camera lens..tada!!!
Yup, which why you can switch back and forth between this LCD mirror and the conventional mirror; Or just stop by the road side and squish the spider.
Good effort from Nissan to pioneer this. What they should also look at is the left and right wing mirror which need this more than the back mirror.
The blindspot for left right wing mirror is more dangerous than rear view mirror visibility.
pretty good..especially u can switch back to conventional mirror in case the camera is ot working..other car manufacturers will folllow it soon…
I like this idea, you could integrate it on high end systems with radar for example to see how close/fast a car behind you is. Technically this could be retrofitted even in older cars so people who want it can still get it, similar to a rearview camera retrofit.
Nice!
But not in the new Teana 2014 for malaysia =(
this is a really smart tech. hope it will be in the new xtrail when it reaches malaysia
Why do you need to constantly look behind? Well, unless there is a hot lady behind you other then that I don’t see what is so smart about this..In fact is a distraction to your driving.
You must either be one of those people that hog up the fast lane not noticing the trail of disgruntled motorist behind and forcing them to make risky decision to either tailgate or overtaking on the slow lane…..or the type that switch lane without noticing that the a 1 and a half tone automobile just centimeters away from your rear door, and will grumble in disgust when the opposing car horns at you
There’s an article few years back on how poor a typical Malaysian driver situational awareness is. Signal light and mirrors are nothing more than fancy add ons to a car as the the driver believes that other motorist will notice ones intention through the large ego he/she has.
Some said signal lights take up more electricity hence making fuel consumption worse.
And we know it’s called The Stig’s Malaysian cousin!
Pitt, u r truly a classic example of road safety ignorance..! in if u r taking driving test in europe, u will FAIL! Becoz one of the main criterias in the test is to consistantly look into the mirror..
its like ure asking why do u need a turn signal if ure not gonna use one…
In Malaysia, you need to constantly look behind you while driving because most drivers love to be close to the front vehicle. If you are not prepared, you will be hugged and wake up in another world.
Buku Panduan JPJ says, you have to check your mirrors every 3 seconds once. Lesen beli ka?
Invent adjustable angle camera and you can have reverse and rear view mode with one camera.
This could be a good companion to the rear view camera system. Hope to see this in the market soon.
seriously…1.3mp only? Whats the dot pitch of the lcd?
Is 1.3 megapixel and 1.3 million pixel the same?
In future they will definitely place the button at your steering wheel. No need to extend your arm to the rear window
Brilliant! Only the Japs can think of this!
Koreans? LOL
Considering US’s IHS upcoming law that ensures all cars on sale in Murica’ is compulsary to have rear view camera, this is not only innovative, it’s groundbreaking. It’s a simple yet highly revolutionary safety system and considering it can be switch back to normal mirrors, there’s a fail safe system as well.
Well done Nissan, for this developing this system that will no doubt contribute heavily towards car safety……
now ETCM…..{cough}…..1-airbag Almera…..{cough}
Smart Rearview Mirror! good! its time to check out pretty girls at the rear. :)
safety first. hope all car manufacturer developed the same idea and provide as a standard feature to their car, this is much better than sensor only.
This idea is NOT new. Audi has experimented on this tech a year ago in lemans with Audi R18 racecar. Lowlife Nissan just copy and paste.
First to apply to production cars win. You don’t drive a car specially modified for an endurance race all day, do you?
Europe start it first,My brother Exora bold premium have this feature too..and i feel every high/premium models should have this as standard items..
what? really? proton already have this technology on exora? you must be joking man
The one on Exora is only for rear view park assist, nevertheless its a very unique feature
Useful technology. They should put this into a HUD too.
This is nothing new.Ever notice that busses nowadays do not have rear windscreen, especially the RapidKL/RapidPg busses?How could the drivers see the vehicles behind then? That is because they already have such camera mounted on the rear roof of the bus for the rear view while driving, not only for reversing because the very high rear windscreen of the bus serves no purpose for the driver.
Great idea.
But this product should come as a warning for drivers who are unaware that it’s not a conventional mirror (when switched to camera mode)
Just imagine the scenario where the driver picks up passengers in the rear seat and doesn’t see their faces reflected in the mirror. He might have a heart attack =P
nissan, pls invent a feature tht can retaliate at the driver with hi beam at the back.
this is not a new idea as claimed by them… BMW Concept C scooter has this thing before to replace its rear view mirror…nevertheless would be great to see in cars in the short future..
Just give more airbags. No need this junk.
Good idea! Suggested it comes with recording and mobile 4G function in Malaysia – To record those like to tailgate and send those images/video to Youtube/Police/JPJ in real time!
LCD rearview cam is nothing new here,some even ah beng had their car installed since 2005…the only innovation I saw is the cam/mirror switch which is not really necessary considering you have to take off you hand from steering wheel to flip switch.
aiyohh…this is old tech laa, our buses, security vans and even my neighbour’s pajero sport has this feature on their rear view mirror.
what if if i want to view in different angle such as spying to the left/right of the car or as a mirror for myself?