Rear-view Cameras

From Apterawiki

There are three rear-view "TV" cameras (color and IR sensitive) on the Aptera, each with about a 60-degree field-of-view. Each has its own screen right in front of the steering wheel. Each has its picture flipped left to right, to better show what one would expect to see in a mirror. Each camera appears to have a circle of LEDs around it, presumably to provide IR illumination of the rearward scene at night.

The rear-facing camera (located in the rear hatch "door", near its top) sees the view directly to the rear, and about 30 degrees on either side. This is much like the view one would expect out of a traditional rear-view mirror.

The side facing cameras (one on each side) face about 60 degrees away from the rear axis. Thus, they cover the scene from 30 degrees to 90 degrees off a direct line to the rear.

So, virtually the whole 180-degree "rear" field-of-view is available to the driver, with just a glance. However, the normal 3D clues that one might get from a real rear-mirror are missing on the 2D TV screens.

Note: There is also a 4th camera, used just for backing up.