How Do Rearview Cameras In cars Work?

A rearview mirror's job is to enable you to see behind your vehicle. As the name suggests, you can see a large portion of the back of your car in the mirror. It often happens that rear decks and trunks limit up to 15 feet of view behind your vehicle.

By Carandbike Team

1 mins read

Published on March 26, 2022

Highlights

Rearview cameras, also known as backup cameras or reverse cameras, are made to tackle this problem of road view blockage. The sole purpose of these cameras is to enable the driver to see behind the car properly. Photo Credit: https://www.caranddriver.com These cameras are made differently from regular cameras. The rearview mirror has a horizontally flipped reflection and gives out a mirrored image. This is due to the fact that the rearview camera and driver are facing opposite directions. A mirrored image helps in the consistent display of direction in consonance with the other mirrors in the vehicle. How Does It Work? The rearview camera activates automatically once the vehicle is put in reverse and shows the view from behind the vehicle. You can see the items at the rear all the time. The rearview camera has a fish-eye lens or a wide-angle lens. The rearview camera does not have the capacity to view distant objects. However, it allows the driver to see horizontally from one end to another at the rear. The camera is mounted downwards to enable you to see barriers that can cause damage to your car. You can also see the position and location of docks and walls that might be behind your vehicle. The rearview camera is generally mounted on the vehicle's bumper and shows greater visibility due to its positioning. You can also mount the camera inside the car on the dashboard area or the sun visor. These cameras might either be wireless or have wires. Photo Credit: https://bestride.com Wired vs Wireless In the case of wired cameras, there is a link between the camera and the display monitor through the long wire cable. In the case of wireless cameras, radio signals transform images, then transmit and convert them to video images as soon as they reach the monitor and receiver. People who have smaller vehicles generally purchase wired cameras that are portable, all-in-one, or semi-permanent. The portable cameras have small display screens and are mounted on the sun visor with a lengthy wire. Photo Credit: https://bestride.com The wireless systems use airways to connect the camera and the screen and sometimes interfere with other wireless components, resulting in poor reception of signals. It is believed that wired systems provide a lot better quality as compared to wireless systems.