Audi To Debut Production Digital Rear-View Mirror

By Logan Utsman on Friday, August 10th, 2012

In Le Mans racing, all-around visibility isn’t as important as corning grip and endurance so most cars fling around tracks without rear windows. By deleting the ability to see out of the back, the conventional rear-view mirror becomes obviously obsolete. On many race cars including Audi’s R18 e-trons, the use of a special digital mirror is used to display rear-view images such as pesky Peugeots. While the device may have been born for the track, it will soon find its way onto the streets as Audi will begin putting digital rear-view mirrors into production.

By placing a utlra small camera at the back of the car, Audi can display the past constantly. In order to keep things crystal clear no matter what, the camera’s placement is aerodynamically optimized as well as heated for cold weather. Replacing the conventional mirror is a 7.7 inch digital screen that can be adjusted for brightness and or simply turned off. Developed alongside Samsung Display Company, Audi will call the mirror AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode) and it will first be seen in the upcoming R8 e-tron later this year.

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