Backup camera

The design of a backup camera is distinct from other cameras because the image is horizontally flipped so that the output is a mirror image.[3] This is necessary because the camera and the driver face opposite directions, and without it, the camera's right would be on the driver's left and vice versa. A mirrored image makes the orientation of the display consistent with the physical mirrors installed on the vehicle. A backup camera typically utilizes a wide-angle lens or fish-eye lens. Although such lenses may limit the camera's ability to capture distant objects, it allows the camera to see an uninterrupted horizontal path from one rear corner to the other. The camera is typically pointed at a downward angle to view potential obstacles on the ground.

Backup cameras make use of dashboard screens that are also used with GPS navigation systems. Inside the vehicle, the display is typically wired to automatically sense when the transmission is set in reverse, showing the backup view on the dashboard screen while the vehicle is in reverse and/or providing grid guidelines by detecting the parking lot markings to aid the driver.

Backup cameras are produced in different varieties depending on the application.

• Backup cameras can be added as aftermarket additions to vehicles that do not come with factory-fitted systems. They are available in both wired and wireless versions.
• For large vehicles such as motorhomes, camera systems with built-in servomechanisms allow the driver to remotely pan and tilt the camera.
• Wireless Backup Cameras come with a wireless camera and receiver, which make it easier and cheaper to install them.[3]
• Built-in audio intercoms (one-way or two-way) are used in addition to the camera system for communicating with a spotter outside the vehicle - common when backing large trailers or launching boats.
• Night vision cameras use a series of infrared lights for backing in the dark, when the positioning or the intensity of the vehicle's white reverse lights are insufficient for this purpose.

2013–2014 Honda Ridgeline rearview mirror backup camera with distance guidelines

• Portable or semi-permanent all-in-one camera systems, also known as dashboard cameras or dashcams, are typically sold for vehicles that don't have displays permanently installed in the dash. Such systems consist of a small portable screen that can be affixed on the dashboard or on a rearview mirror, and a length of wire to reach the cameras, including a backup camera.
• Some backup and rear cameras are connected to displays on the rearview mirror and are used in vehicles to detect activity behind the car to "avoid the tooling, software, hardware, and testing costs associated with integrating the display/feature in other areas of the vehicle."
• License-plate-frame versions permit installation without any permanent vehicle modifications.
• Custom cameras: brake light cameras are combination devices that contain a camera, while still illuminating as a brake light. Some backup cameras also use a combination of LEDs surrounding the camera lens to illuminate the surroundings while in use.

The first backup camera was used in the 1956 Buick Centurion concept car,[4] presented in January 1956 at the General Motors Motorama. The vehicle had a rear-mounted television camera that sent images to a TV screen on the dashboard in place of the rear-view mirror.[5]

Later the 1972 Volvo Experimental Safety Car (VESC) had a backup camera. However, the camera did not make it into the following Volvo 240 model.[6][7]

The first production automobile to incorporate a backup camera was the 1991 Toyota Soarer Limited (UZZ31 and UZZ32), which was only available in Japan and not on U.S. counterpart Lexus SC. The Toyota system used a color EMV screen, with a rear-spoiler-mounted CCD camera. The system was discontinued in 1997. In April 2000, Nissan's Infiniti division introduced the Rear View Monitor on the 2002 Infiniti Q45 flagship sedan at the 2000 New York International Auto Show. Using coloured onscreen guide lines as a parking distance parameter, the Rear View Monitor operated from a license-plate-mounted camera in the trunk that transmitted a mirrored image to an 7-inch in-dash LCD screen. It was available as optional equipment upon North American launch in March 2001.[8][9] The 2002 Nissan Primera introduced the Rear View Monitor backup camera system to territories outside Japan and North America.

Aftermarket options for cars have been available for some time. Electronics manufacturers have made multiple car upgrades available that can be installed by professionals without replacing the car's center console.

Other types of camera systems can give a more comprehensive view.

Surround-view cameras

Around View Monitor on a Nissan Elgrand

Infiniti introduced the first surround-view cameras, making the system available on the 2008 EX35 and marketing it as the Around View Monitor. The system used four cameras located at the front, back and sides of the vehicle, feeding images to an image processing unit to analyze, assemble and synthesize inputs together to create a synthetic but positionally accurate top-down view of the car and its surroundings. In most modern systems, the pictures appear in such detail that it's difficult to believe they were not taken from above the vehicle.[10][11]

BMW introduced their competing system called Surround View in 2009 on the F10 5 Series.[12] Other automobile manufacturers have since offered similar systems, e.g., Bird's Eye View Camera (Toyota), or Surround Vision (Chevrolet). Collectively, J.D. Power calls such systems surround-view cameras.

Honda's LaneWatch provides an 80° field of view that is displaced on the navigation screen with guidelines to help the driver judge distance behind the rear bumper of the vehicle.

Blind spot monitors are an option that may include more than monitoring the sides of the vehicle. It can include "Cross Traffic Alert", which alerts drivers backing out of a parking space when traffic is approaching from the sides.[15][16][17]

In the United States, the Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act of 2007[18] required the United States Department of Transportation to issue backup-collision-safety regulations within three years and require full compliance within four years after final rulemaking.[19]

The law specified a statutory deadline of February 2011 for issuing the final regulations. However, the USDOT repeatedly granted itself extensions to the deadline, claiming it needed more time to analyze costs and benefits of the requirement.[20] In September 2013, Greg Gulbransen, the father of the child whom the law was named after, along with a group of consumers and advocates submitted a petition to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, demanding that the USDOT implement regulations on backup cameras within 90 days.[21] About half of model year 2012 automobiles were equipped with backup cameras.[19][22]

On March 31, 2014, three years past its deadline, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that it would require all automobiles sold in the United States built beginning in May 2018 to include backup cameras.[23] On October 31, 2016, Transport Canada issued a similar mandate beginning at the same time.[24]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Backup camera.

• "The danger of blind zones The area behind your vehicle can be a killing zone". Consumer Reports. Consumers Union. March 2012. Retrieved August 10, 2013.