Lexus ES 2019 model will be the first car that has swapped side mirrors with cameras. The car will be available in Japan for now. However, it is a sign of all the tech which is yet to come and how it will be implemented in the vehicles. The side cameras are called Digital Outer Mirrors. They consist of a pair of stalks which are almost half the height of a regular side mirror. There are also LEDs present on the front and small wide-angle cameras on the back. Inside the cabin, there is a small screen which is angled towards the driver and shows the output from those cameras. Features like blind spot warning, object identification and also a green light that tells that it is OK to merge are also present in the car.
When someone is reversing the car, the camera zooms in to assist with that task and also gives some augmented lines over the vision to help you decide what is the safe distance while you park. The digital mirror stalks are of the same size as a regular mirror. The little screens look like they are as classy as having a computer inside your Lexus. The camera is not, however, offering an HD image quality. It is as if you are looking at a first-generation iPhone. On the other hand, they do provide a wider field of view than a regular set of mirrors.
Lexus is the first one to try these things in their vehicle. We can hope that with time, we will see a better version of these things integrated into the interior of the car. We are also hoping that these outer stalks can shrink in size. Manufacturers will always put the cameras out at a distance from the car’s body if we want to keep the viewpoint that we are used to with conventional side mirrors.
