Improving Object Detectability in Rear Cross-View Mirrors

Drivers of commercial vans and delivery trucks (e.g, step vans) which do not have rear windows have limited visibility of the area directly behind the vehicle. Many but not all of these vehicles use a high-mounted convex mirror in the rear of the vehicle to give drivers a view of what is directly behind the vehicle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was interested in obtaining additional information about the performance of these rear cross-view mirrors. While such mirrors provide drivers with a view to the rear, this view is necessarily distorted and minified. This study, performed for NHTSA, quantified this minification and distortion and also measured the ability of drivers to use the mirrors to detect and recognize objects in the rear.