For most motorists, parking is the most loathed aspect of driving. Whether it’s parallel parking in a tight spot on a busy urban street or navigating the chaos of a crammed lot, there’s no doubt parking can be a stressful experience. The opportunity for a bump, scrape or scratch looms around every corner
Innovations surrounding in-car imaging have surpassed the expectations of many experts over the past couple years. As cameras become more compact and powerful than ever before, automakers are putting them to use in creative ways. Thanks to an available 360-degree camera, you can see entirely what’s around you from a birds-eye view during slow driving situations—and the dreaded parallel park is only the beginning. This technology comes in handy for everything from reversing through tight alleyways to lining up your parking job up to the inch. Here’s how it works.
Four available wide-angle cameras are built into the car and face outward. There’s one in both the front and back as well as one on each side mirror. In 360-degree viewing mode, each camera sends what it sees back to the car’s central computer. A graphic representation of the car itself is shown from above, while each wide-angle feed is piped in according to its actual position on the car. When the car’s computer stitches together all the feeds, the driver gets a full 360-degree live view of everything around the car.
But the 360-degree function isn’t the only application for this technology. The Lincoln MKX, for example, makes use of both the birds-eye function as well as offering a split view option. In split view, drivers get a 180-degree view of either the front or rear, allowing drivers to see around objects and offering a view of approaching traffic. With a built-in radar system, the available Blind Spot Information System (BLIS) feature helps see your blind spots for you.
Coupled with active park-assist features, the future of fitting into a tight parallel-parking spot is looking bright. And best of all, it’s displayed on a single screen.—Hans Aschim
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/1MWr1O4
via IFTTT
0 comments:
Post a Comment