Surround view, also called as around view or birds-eye view, is a type of parking assistance system that uses multiple cameras to help drivers monitor their surroundings. It was first introduced in 2007 as the "Around View Monitor" parking assistance option for the

Nissan Elgrand The is a minivan manufactured by Nissan Shatai for Nissan since 1997, available in three generations, with model codes E50 (1997–2002), E51 (2002–2010), and E52 (2010–present). The E50 Elgrand was also configured and produced as a ligh ...

and Infiniti EX.

Principle

Early vehicle parking assistant products used ultrasonic parking sensors and/or a single rear-view camera to view and obtain distances to objects surrounding the vehicle, providing drivers with an audible alarm or rear-view video through a

fisheye lens A fisheye lens is an ultra wide angle lens, ultra wide-angle lens that produces strong Distortion (optics), visual distortion intended to create a wide panorama, panoramic or Sphere#Hemisphere, hemispherical image. Fisheye lenses achieve extremel ...

. There are some drawbacks to these early products: the alarm only provides a proximity warning but not the position of the object(s) relative to the vehicle, and the rear-view camera has a limited field of view. Multiple-camera systems overcome these problems and have seen increasing availability. File:Rossi lhf safdao Y1.jpg, Input images; clockwise from upper left: views from the rear, forward, right, and left side cameras File:Rossi lhf safdao Z1.jpg, Common output interface; rear-view camera given prominence on the left, and omniview shown on the right with generic rendered vehicle In most omniview systems, there are four wide-angle cameras: one in the front of the vehicle, one in the back of the vehicle, and one each in the side-mounted rear view mirrors. The four cameras have overlapping fields of view that collectively cover the whole area around the vehicle and serve as an

omnidirectional (360-degree) camera In photography, an omnidirectional camera (from "omni", meaning all), also known as 360-degree camera, is a camera having a field of view that covers at least a full circle (360°) in the horizontal plane, up to a full sphere (Spat (angular unit), ...

. Video from the cameras are sent to the processor, which synthesizes a

bird's-eye view A bird's-eye view is an elevated view of an object or location from a very steep viewing angle, creating a perspective (graphical), perspective as if the observer were a bird in flight looking downward. Bird's-eye views can be an aerial photog ...

from above the vehicle by stitching the video feeds together, correcting distortion, and transforming the perspective. In some cases, ultrasonic sensors are used in combination with the omniview system to provide distance information and highlight the relevant view that may be affected by potential obstacles. Because the bird's-eye view is a simulated perspective using camera inputs much closer to the ground, objects at ground level will appear relatively undistorted while those above the ground will appear to "lean away" from the vehicle. In addition, if the same object is captured by the overlapping fields of two cameras, it can appear to lean away in two different directions.

History

The first vehicle equipped with

Nissan is a Japanese multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the ''Nissan'' and ''Infiniti'' brands, and formerly the ''Datsun'' brand, with in-house ...

's "Around View Monitor" was the Japanese-market Elgrand, introduced in November 2007. In America, the system was introduced one month later, as an option for the EX35 from Nissan's luxury marque

Infiniti (stylized in all caps) is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Nissan. The brand began on November 8, 1989, initially in North America. The marketing network for Infiniti vehicles included dealers in over 50 countries in the 201 ...

. At about the same time,

Mitsubishi Motors is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.

and

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

implemented similar functionality as the "Multi-around monitor system" for the Delica and "Multi-View Camera System" for the

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...

, respectively. Third-party automotive component suppliers such as

Freescale Semiconductor Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. was an American semiconductor manufacturer. It was created by the divestiture of the Semiconductor Products Sector of Motorola in 2004. Freescale focused their integrated circuit products on the automotive, embedde ...

and

Continental AG Continental AG, commonly known as Continental and colloquially as Conti, is a German multinational automotive parts manufacturing company. Headquartered in Hanover, Lower Saxony, it is the world's third- largest automotive supplier and the fo ...

have developed and marketed modular omniview systems, the latter through the acquisition of Application Solutions Ltd. (ASL Vision). Nissan have since added

moving object detection Moving object detection is a technique used in computer vision and image processing. Multiple consecutive frames from a video are compared by various methods to determine if any moving object is detected. Moving objects detection has been used for ...

using the cameras, billing the system as "Intelligent Around View Monitor" (I-AVM). In 2016, stuntman Paul Swift used the I-AVM system to match the world record for the tightest J-turn in a specially-prepared Nissan Juke, using a space just wider than the vehicle's length to turn it around with the windows completely blacked out. An omniview system that uses four cameras and displays a three-dimensional rendering of the vehicle and its surroundings has been proposed as a logical next step to increase the driver's awareness.

References

{{CarDesign nav Auto parts Vehicle safety technologies Automotive technologies Information technology Automotive engineering Parking

Principle

History

See also

References