Photo: Cadillac
It seems Cadillac's strategy for challenging the biggest names in the automotive industry is working rather well. The CTS is finding lots of customers and the Escalade is taking back the customers lost to BMW or Porsche. But the car you really want to watch out for is the new CT6, a large sedan that is coming late next year and stands to change the full-size executive segment.
Cadillac bosses have said they are no longer hiring car people, instead focusing on people from other areas of expertise. It seems quite a few of their engineers came from video games of Oculus Rift virtual reality, because they've just announced that the CT6 will be their first car with a high-res monitor integrated into the rearview mirror.
The technology will be introduced next year and Travis Hester, executive chief engineer for the CT6, says "the closest comparison to this kind of rear vision would be driving a convertible with the top down."
The mirror will have an integrated high-res display created by Gentex Corp., while the rearview mirror will have an extra-wide film angle and will be provided by Sharp.
GM has co-developed the video processing software with Sharp and says its system automatically reduces glare and adjusts for low-light conditions better than a traditional auto-dimming mirror. Rearward visibility will thus be increased by up to 300 percent.
We've seen enough car screens to know that not all of them are good. But Cadillac's system shows a lot of promise, as the display in-mirror display is "an industry-leading 1280 by 240-pixel TFT-LCD with 171 pixels per inch."
To give you an idea of what to expect, know that a slightly outdated but still relevant iPhone5 has a 640 x 1136 pixels display with a 326 ppi density. So basically, Cadillac is preparing something with half the density but comparable numbers of pixels.
“The streaming video is a significant enhancement for the luxury customer interested in purposeful technology,” Hester said.
Cadillac's streaming video mirror in layman's terms:
The technology will be introduced next year and Travis Hester, executive chief engineer for the CT6, says "the closest comparison to this kind of rear vision would be driving a convertible with the top down."
The mirror will have an integrated high-res display created by Gentex Corp., while the rearview mirror will have an extra-wide film angle and will be provided by Sharp.
GM has co-developed the video processing software with Sharp and says its system automatically reduces glare and adjusts for low-light conditions better than a traditional auto-dimming mirror. Rearward visibility will thus be increased by up to 300 percent.
We've seen enough car screens to know that not all of them are good. But Cadillac's system shows a lot of promise, as the display in-mirror display is "an industry-leading 1280 by 240-pixel TFT-LCD with 171 pixels per inch."
To give you an idea of what to expect, know that a slightly outdated but still relevant iPhone5 has a 640 x 1136 pixels display with a 326 ppi density. So basically, Cadillac is preparing something with half the density but comparable numbers of pixels.
“The streaming video is a significant enhancement for the luxury customer interested in purposeful technology,” Hester said.
Cadillac's streaming video mirror in layman's terms:
- It shows video feed from the back of the car
- The passengers' heads won't show up
- The view angle is wider because there are no C-pillars to restrict you
- Adjusts automatically to conditions, won't fog like the rear windshield
Google News