New Cadillac Rearview Mirror With Display By Video On CT6 In 2016

The 2016 Cadillac CT6 will be getting a new rear view mirror, only as a display instead of the traditional mirror. Forgoing the reflective surface that has been used since humans first looked into pools of dark, calm water, the announcement from GM today details how the rear view mirror will be replaced by an LCD display.

The new rear view display will feature a high-resolution screen with a resolution at 1280 x 240 on a TFT-LCD display situated where the glass for the mirror would be. The new rear view display will offer the benefit of removing the visual obstacles of passengers, headrests, roofs, pillars and other things that can block a driver’s view out the back window. In all, the streaming image will improve the field of vision by around 300 percent.

“The closest comparison to this kind of rear vision would be driving a convertible with the top down,” said Travis Hester, Cadillac CT6 executive chief engineer.

The camera situated at the back of the Cadillac CT6 is an HDR camera which has built in glare reduction and the all important low light visibility for night time driving. This is in place of the current electrochroamatic rear view mirror technology which has been in use for over a decade. The wide angle lens on the camera is also coated with a hydrophobic coating to keep water from accumulating on the device and maintain high visibility in all driving conditions.

Cadillac was proud of the 10 patents awarded for the car, which will be surely looked at by its other domestic and foreign luxury contemporaries. One of the patents is for streaming video mirror and the other sign for the video processing technology.

If the idea of a rear view mirror being replaced by a video screen makes the driver a bit uneasy having to rely on an electronic device rather than tried and true glass, the video screen can be disabled by toggling a switch on the underside of the mirror which will revert to the traditional auto-dimming rearview mirror.

The technology of HD camera feeds have been available as as aftermarket upgrades for some time, as the Verge pointed out, while also noting that Nissan has a similar system in the production pipeline though Cadillac, with the CT6 in 2016 likely be the first to market as a factory installed option.

“The streaming video is a significant enhancement for the luxury customer interested in purposeful technology,” Hester said.

While not the Super Cruise technology that The Inquistr has reported on previously, the streaming video for the Cadillac CT6 sounds like a much more practical application.

[Image Source | GM]