Cadillac To Boost Safety In 2016 Models With Digital Rear View Mirror

Cadillac is aiming to give its drivers the upper hand when it comes to situational awareness as we continue to drive vehicles with increasingly annoying blind spots. Current trends in automobile styling has led to vehicles that have high beltlines and smaller “greenhouses” along with d-pillars and high rear decks which impede rear visibility.

Cadillac, which is guilty of all of the above offenses — we’re looking at you, CTS Coupe — will introduce a new rear view mirror design that integrates a 1280x240 LCD. The LCD is fed a live stream via an HD camera mounted at the rear of the vehicle.

Since the camera is mounted externally, Cadillac says that vehicle pillars will no longer obstruct rear vision, and you don’t have to worry about your 6’ 6” coworker in the rear seat blocking the rear window as you attempt to make low-speed maneuvers in parking lots or navigate in traffic on city streets.

Cadillac says that the system boosts a driver’s field of vision by 300 percent.

“The closest comparison to this kind of rear vision would be driving a convertible with the top down,” said Cadillac CT6 chief engineer Travis Hester.

And before you ask, yes, the feature can be disabled if you find such technology “intrusions” to be annoying. In addition, the camera lens features a hydrophobic coating to ensure continued visibility in a wide variety of driving conditions.

The new streaming video mirror will make its debut on the 2016 Cadillac CT6, which was previously known as the Cadillac CTS.