The United States begins testing cameras that replace side mirrors

For several years now we have been hearing about exterior mirrors replaced by cameras, but until now these were concept vehicles that never reached production or were limited to a handful of very exclusive models, only in Europe and Japan. But now the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the US body that controls the approval of vehicles and the safety equipment they carry.

According to Reuters, the agency will begin examining “driver behaviour and the execution of the lane-change manoeuvre” using this highly innovative technology. The first tests will be carried out on passenger vehicles, mainly cars, in order to continue testing its effectiveness on larger vehicles.

These tests have finally begun, following the request received in 2014 from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, made up of brands such as Tesla, General Motors, Volkswagen and Toyota. They conveyed to the government agency the need to start testing in order to integrate this technology into their models. A year later, Daimler asked for these devices to be tested on heavy commercial vehicles.

There are few production models on the market that feature these cameras replacing the exterior mirrors. In Japan the Lexus ES is sold, the first of them all, after its use was approved in the country. In Europe it has also been approved, and the Audi e-tron is one of the few that equip it for now.

With the start of tests of this technology in the United States, more models equipped with these cameras may appear and their use will become normalised in all markets. In Europe we will be able to see the next Honda e, which will already carry these camera mirrors, and in the field of supercars the McLaren Speedtail and the Lotus Evija will be the ones joining this still exclusive club.