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Comment by loudthing | Hacker News Reader

In the US in May of 2018, a federal law went into effect saying all new cars require a backup camera. This means that there needs to be an LCD screen visible to the driver for the camera. This is sort of a slippery slope as far as feature creep. Now that you have this screen, aren't drivers going to expect to see something on it 99% of the time when they aren't backing up?

Actually this leads me to realize why some automakers like Ford integrate the screen into the rear view mirror, so when it isn't on, it disappears behind a one way mirror.

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> In the US in May of 2018, a federal law went into effect saying all new cars require a backup camera.

This law actually says that if a car can't meet a prescribed rear visibility threshold it needs a backup camera. Instead of make safer designs manufacturers just install cameras.

But I don't disagree manufacturers are using screens as an excuse to add superfluous bullshit they'll then use for data mining. See USC 2342 Unintended Consequences, Law of.

My favorite part of backup camera is manufacturers that put a warning overlay on the video telling you to watch your surroundings. An overlay that eats up some significant percentage of the screen occulting potential hazards you might otherwise see. I for one can't wait for the backup camera to display ads in the lower third. If they take up enough space manufacturers could make a mint selling personal injury and insurance ads.

note: 'proscribe' means to prohibit and 'prescribe' means to require

Thanks, fixed it. Don't want a misspelling to affect the effect of my statement.

Not enough humor on HN. Well done.

My 2012 volvo has a reasonably large LCD that is used for the backup camera, and infotainment etc.

However, I have it set to screen saver mode, and it is completely powered down until I put the car in reverse. It also wakes for certain things like displaying the temperature if I change it with the real knobs.

The Speedometer and Rev counter are physical needles. Newer models have replaced these with a central LCD, which means I will hang onto this one as long as I can.

There is no reason a car can’t have a display and be humane, other than stupid corporate design sensibilities.

Yep, my 2009 Volvo has a popup screen that can be pushed down into the dash. I like it because I almost never use the reversing camera, but on the rare occasion I want to it's available. The rest of the car is all physical controls.

are you not worried about running over small children?

Serious question. Was there some epidemic of running over children that I missed in the 18 years of operating vehicles before I got one with a backup camera?

It’s not a serious question to ask if there was an ‘epidemic’. That is clearly a straw man.

Backup cameras were mandated as a result of cases of children being run over, because mirrors are inadequate to detect their presence.

My Toyota has no LCD screen visible. Instead they makes the backup camera screen behind a partially silvered section of the rear view mirror. It’s quite nice. Not as big and bright as others but gets the job done and is super discreet.

I bought an aftermarket camera that's like ford's, but it just slips over the old mirror. Thing is great, shoots 4k and is not integrated to the car's system. Also has voice commands, so its super easy to use the real mirror or any other functions. Screen in the mirror is the way.

Are you saying that you’re watching 4K video from your rear view camera in a 1.5in screen or it’s a dash cam?

Yeah it's a dashcam, records 4k in the front, and 2.5k the rear camera. I'm sure the screen is much less, but looks great on my tv.

I’d rather have a nice bright (in the dark) camera with a wide field of view that’s only 480p.

Can you show me the camera and how it's integrated in the car?

It's a Kingslim DL12 and is powered through the cigarette lighter or directly connected.

Does this mean you have a wire hanging from your mirror at all times? Also how is the back one connected?

Not him, but the wire goes up into the ceiling plastic and around the side, under the plastic, and only comes out around the cigarette lighter. The "back" camera is usually built into the same unit. The advantage over what he is describing is that people often break into cars to steal the more visible (non-mirror) cameras.

Yep, other guy is correct, and wires were my first concern, but they are long and you just shim them in between the panels around and down the windows. Same with the back, but there you might have to get more creative running the wire and mounting the camera depending on vehicle.

My subaru has a tiny screen built in to the rear view. Its great. Anything else would be a downgrade.

Actual rear visibility would be an upgrade. Cars don't seem to come with that anymore.

I had to "forced upgrade" my 2003 Accord last year to a 2018 Acura RDX SUV (dumb woman on her plowed into me at an intersection). It's a decent vehicle, but it's the base model and doesn't have all the camera shit. For cars like this, I can understand why they started adding 360 cameras: you can't see anything from the driver's seat! My rear view, even if I turn my head, is completely blocked by headrests, and there are huge blindspots on the sides, even with side mirrors that have a section at a different angle.

Merging onto a freeway is scary in this thing, whereas in my 2003 car, there was a 360 view all around me. Like a lot of things, looks have become more important than function, even in something as safety-critical as a car.

That would be amazing. The only reason I'm not out buying vintage 60's cars is because I don't want to be in one if there's a crash. But the visibility from back then was great, they were basically greenhouses with wheels.

Wind tunnel engineering.

Cars do not have large upright rear windows anymore because a sloping "fastback" design with a higher rear deck is more aerodynamic and gets an extra fraction of an MPG on the fuel economy rating.

I’m not so sure this is entirely due to fuel. A Volkswagen Golf with great fuel economy still has a big rear window and an FJ Cruiser has a tiny one and chugs gasoline. Many of the cars don’t actually have dramatic tapering roof lines, what they have is rising belt lines which cut into the window space.

Large pillars to hold airbags are also a big consumer of window space.

Not all cars have such high beltlines that make you feel like you are driving a sherman tank. American cars seem to have these issues more than imports. Maybe its a way to shirk around some crash testing metrics by deferring to less visibility than to offer more visibility and potentially spend more engineering something just as strong?

My theory with the XC60 refresh with its huge, high, flat-top, snub-nosed bonnet compared to the old sloping one is that all that extra volume is for the fancy double/hybrid engines and so on.

Or maybe people just like to feel like their car is a rhino, but the same refresh also slightly lowered the roofline and the driving position feels lower too.

The other down side is that my wife always shouts that I'm going to crash when parking nose-in because the bonnet feels twice as long as it really is.

Completely different car,. I have no idea where to begin... Maybe the wheels?

While you're not wrong, that's just the current trend of people preferring SUVs to cars.

The "slope" back design seems to hit this sweet spot. Ease of entry, versatility, and capability while not appearing to be a "beast" of a vehicle.

The prius has this fuel efficient design and opted to just give you more window on the back of the car anyhow.

Larger windows mean more cooling and heating needed, and high window sills especially on sedans are needed because of how insanely high SUVs and trucks are these days, because people need to overcompensate.

My mom’s Subaru has a backup camera that appears in the rear view mirror and then disappears when in drive.

It’s being done by all big-3 automakers. It’s probably a supplier that supplies those mirrors.

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