The new Audi touchscreen virtual cameras seem to be a good idea

We've seen concept cars equipped with cameras instead of traditional mirrors for what seems to be forever, and here's another one! The Audi E-Tron 2020 SUV concept also has them, and these are probably the closest to a production setup that we've seen up to here.

I am still not convinced to replace a perfectly fine mirror with an entire camera and screen system is necessary or even wise, but seeing the latest Audi technology in practice m & # 39; has led to think that it will not be a horrible idea.

Here are about two minutes of audacious video from the magazine Auditography on YouTube for the SUV electric concept, with about 20 seconds of beautiful virtual rearview mirror action at the end:

The location of the seven-inch touch panels is logically just below that of the rear-view mirror, and it looks pretty clear and clear to show the driver what's going on at it. outside.

The fact of being adjustable to the touch is interesting and seemingly intuitive, maybe just a little restless. There are also pre-programmed camera settings for parking, cornering and highway driving. The system still seems much more adjustable than a traditional mirror, and I'm surprised how functional it seems to be.

I was going to say that the size of the external camera configuration seems a bit big for what I imagined possible considering some of the concepts we saw, but it's finally smaller than that. a mirror, which is why Audi went through all these problems.

Audi claims a major reason behind its development of this camera technology is the reduction of wind noise in the cab of its electric vehicles. The old rudimentary mirrors make a lot of noise when the car is driving on the road, and it would be even more prevalent and potentially annoying in an electric car that has no engine noise.

The Audi E-Tron 2020 SUV with 429 horsepower with a range of about 250 miles (according to the European test cycle) from a 95 kWh battery.

Despite the current lobbying efforts of the auto industry, the system will go into production on E-Tron models sold outside of the United States, and we are stuck with big noisy mirrors. Give us time, we will catch up.

Via Autoblog !