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Polestar eliminates the rear window in latest electric car

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Re: Polestar eliminates the rear window in latest electric car

#101

Post by Gud »

culturestate wrote: post #8

Driving without a rear window isn’t a big deal - see, for example, nearly every cargo delivery van on Earth. I have to imagine the stubborn refusal to add standard physical controls back to the cockpit has more potential for trouble than an impeded rear view. I wonder if there’s NHTSA data on this specifically for passenger cars? Maybe incidents caused by blocking the driver’s rear view (with furniture or people or w…

Let me ask you this, how much do you drive? Although I don’t drive much anymore, just daily to and from work, there were periods I would have to drive 250-800km twice per week to get to site(Sweden is a pretty big country).

The rear view mirror is absolute advantage. It’s the only way to know wtf is going on right behind you.

Re: Polestar eliminates the rear window in latest electric car

#102

Post by drdaeman »

ahahahahah wrote: post #57
drdaeman wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone (a kid, or a pet) suddenly appears right behind you, a single second could be crucial, even if you are backing at 1 mph.

A single second is a very long time, typical reaction time is like a tenth of that. Especially at 1 mph. Not only is that a very long time, at 1mph, you are moving less than 2 feet per second. At that speed, your only worry is really a kid diving immediately under your tires.

Accidents happen.

Kids aren't always smart, observant and logical, pets - doubly so. And even the smartest (but very unlucky) adult can just stumble and land down right under your tires.

Quite improbable - for sure, but not exactly impossible.

Re: Polestar eliminates the rear window in latest electric car

#103

Post by paradox460 »

troupo wrote: post #78
paradox460 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My recent model Subaru Ascent came with a "smart mirror". When enabled, the rear view mirror is actually a display, showing a view of what a rear camera, mounted high in the rear window, sees. This is not the backup camera, it's got one of those too, down by the license plate. At first I had a little bit of skepticism. I figured it would be useful when the back is full of cargo or whatever, but limited beyond that. A…

How do you deal with grime, dirt, rain, snow? The rear view cameras on cars I've driven are often useless even in parking scenarios because of that.

On the ascent, it's up very high on the car, slightly under the spoiler. It's got the washer fluid spout right above it, and is at the apex of the curve of the rear wiper, so any grime gets maximum detergent and wiping action. Since it's a tiny little patch, maybe a couple square inches, it's easy to keep clean, as opposed to the whole windshield

Interestingly enough, the actual "backup camera" is mounted lower than the rear view camera, down by the license plate. When you run the rear sprayer, it actually squirts a bit of fluid over the lense of that camera too. Still not as good a solution as Mercedes, who just hides the camera behind a flap when it's not in use, but better than nothing

Re: Polestar eliminates the rear window in latest electric car

#104

Post by paradox460 »

mrguyorama wrote: post #99
sidewndr46 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or 6 years from now when the camera fails and is no longer a part available from the manufacturer

This is actually not an issue. Nearly every single car manufacturer uses the exact same camera module, and have for like a decade now. The standard is that head units have a composite video input that simply gets switched to whenever you put it into reverse, and any overlays are done in the head unit. These are utterly standard parts, and the entire auto industry could die tomorrow and you would still have zero probl…

They're so ubiquitous, and tiny, that they've started to see common use in the model rail community

Re: Polestar eliminates the rear window in latest electric car

#105

Post by olddustytrail »

dotBen wrote: post #93
jen20 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I did a driving test in the US (which was admittedly a complete joke compared to a UK one I did two decades earlier) I explicitly got told that it was fine to use the camera alone.

Yes America wouldn't have anywhere near the number of drivers that it does if Americans had to pass the British driving test. Have you ever had to reverse around a corner, since you did the test?

That's no longer part of the test (removed 2017).

Re: Polestar eliminates the rear window in latest electric car

#106

Post by CyberDildonics »

afavour wrote: post #83
unixhero wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow youre missing out, car is such a fundamental freedom enabler - of movement

Man, that’s just not true. I live in NYC and the number of things accessible to me and my family via public transit or bike is mind boggling. Then, when we want to leave the city for a few days we rent a car. Costs less than car insurance would be over a year, let alone maintainence, upfront cost, etc. Everyone can live their life in the way of their own choosing, I don’t begrudge anyone who owns a car or anything li…

It's not true in general because you happen to live in the one place in the US that it's not true?

Everyone can live their life in the way of their own choosing,

cool, thanks

it’s very, very possible to be free without owning a car.

If you live in one specific place and stay there.

Re: Polestar eliminates the rear window in latest electric car

#107

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

dotBen wrote: post #93
jen20 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I did a driving test in the US (which was admittedly a complete joke compared to a UK one I did two decades earlier) I explicitly got told that it was fine to use the camera alone.

Yes America wouldn't have anywhere near the number of drivers that it does if Americans had to pass the British driving test. Have you ever had to reverse around a corner, since you did the test?

Why on earth would you do that on a test? I can't think of many more dangerous things to do in a car than reversing while going around a corner!

Re: Polestar eliminates the rear window in latest electric car

#108

Post by noufalibrahim »

troupo wrote: post #79
noufalibrahim wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't think of many real negatives. Since I got a parking camera in my car, I don't use the rear view mirror at all during parking. If there is some way I can get more accurate information about the blind spots around my car (and this camera seems to be one such thing), I'd much prefer that. There will be cleaning and electronics problems but every technology comes with its own set of issues. The only thing I can t…

> I can't think of many real negatives. Since I got a parking camera in my car, I don't use the rear view mirror at all during parking. I can see those negatives every time in rain, dirt, snow...

Don't you face comparable problems with a dirty window as well?

Re: Polestar eliminates the rear window in latest electric car

#109

Post by afavour »

CyberDildonics wrote: post #106
afavour wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, that’s just not true. I live in NYC and the number of things accessible to me and my family via public transit or bike is mind boggling. Then, when we want to leave the city for a few days we rent a car. Costs less than car insurance would be over a year, let alone maintainence, upfront cost, etc. Everyone can live their life in the way of their own choosing, I don’t begrudge anyone who owns a car or anything li…

It's not true in general because you happen to live in the one place in the US that it's not true? Everyone can live their life in the way of their own choosing, cool, thanks it’s very, very possible to be free without owning a car. If you live in one specific place and stay there.

But I don’t “happen” to live in NYC. I wasn’t even born here, I chose to live here. While NYC is pretty rare in the US a walkable dense city isn’t rare worldwide.

My point is that freedom can come in different forms. A car is one route to one form of freedom but counter to the OPs assertion I’m absolutely not missing out not owning a car. I’ve just taken a different path, one that’s available to others too.

Re: Polestar eliminates the rear window in latest electric car

#110

Post by BrandoElFollito »

Someone wrote: post #55
BrandoElFollito wrote: post #47

I can switch the camera in my car to replace the normal mirror. This is useful when the trunk is full. I hate it, though, because it forces your eyes to quickly and repeatedly adapt to short vision (the image is close to you), then again on the road etc. There is no such a problem with the normal mirror which shows objects far away so you you don't need to adapt when switching between forward and back view

Reading https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2908311/ , it can take half a second (for the oldest age group, in the dark) before an eye even starts to accommodate and, if I’m interpreting RTI correctly, easily another half a second to accommodate. Makes me wonder how sharp an image one needs to see in the rear view mirror to drive. Or do drivers really look to such a screen for over a second while driving? An…

I would be fine with switching to a closed cockpit, provided I get augmented information, removal of distractions etc.

We are I guess 30 years short of such features so that driving with such a cockpit is safer and more efficient

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