Narrowed views
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure & Transport announced on November 7 that the current rules on the performances and standards of motor vehicles and parts will be amended in part soon so that a camera monitor system can take the place of a side-view mirror.
An international standard for the same purpose has been in effect since June last year. The upcoming revision is for domestic vehicle safety standards to comply with the international standard. At present, a camera monitor system can be used only as an auxiliary device for a side-view mirror.
A camera monitor system replacing a side-view mirror is expected to result in a decline in wind resistance, an improvement of 5% to 10% in terms of fuel efficiency and a higher level of blind spot coverage. Still, some problems have yet to be dealt with, including a blurry screen resulting from rain and malfunctioning.
The development of camera monitor systems that are capable of replacing side-view mirrors on a commercial level is likely to take some time. South Korean companies are currently working on such systems and German and Japanese companies have come up with some non-commercial ones.