The new Kia Sorento will be equipped with a blind-spot display directly fed into the driver information system
One of the peskiest bugs for a car driver is blind-spots, which Kia wants to solve in the new Sorento. A sophisticated high-resolution video is streamed in the TFT-LCD ‘Supervision’ instrument cluster to increase driver awareness around blind-spots for a safer drive. It will make life easy for drivers, but is this a better solution than just using wide-angle cameras instead of side rearview mirror as Honda is working on the ‘e’ compact EV. Kia will be placing these on the rearview mirrors for the left-right blind spots. Better actually as this can be deployed at a quicker basis in mirror design than an entire camera system which if breaks will render useless against good old mirrors. Kia will be releasing it for the European market soon with probable penetration in global markets soon after that.
How does it work?
Kia is calling it Blind-Spot View Monitor (BVM) as additional visibility in conjunction with mirrors to make low-speed parking manoeuvers much safer for drivers. The new fully-digital instrument cluster will receive the feed directly from the cameras and display it in the left or right side of the instrument cluster. SUVs have bigger dimensions, hence bigger blind spots. Kia’s Supervision cluster has a 1920×720 pixel display for the DIS. The system helps the driver avoid any possible collisions with vehicles hidden in these blind spots. This is immensely helpful for cyclists and motorcyclists as they easily disappear for car drivers. Also, the system will notify drivers of pillars, signposts, curbs, and people hidden away from the driver through the car’s blind spots.
Integration with Driver Assistance Systems
The BVW tech works in conjunction with the surround-view monitor and parking collision-avoidance system (PCA) for safer parking of the vehicle. Visible and audio notifications inform the driver of hidden hindrances that must be avoided. And people who think these technologies are just gimmicks try reverse parking an SUV without using cameras. It is a herculean task made easy in the 2020 Kia Sorento as it is 4,800mm in length. While driving the Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist (BCA) notifies drivers of vehicles in blind spots and can even intervene if it has to.
Blind-Spot monitoring system is definitely a huge advantage for SUVs and sedans with larger dimensions. This will improve safety while parking and while driving. It works with other safety assist systems and delivers the feed directly to the driver in the infotainment cluster. However, Kia has this being released for the European market for now but should quickly trickle it down to other models across its global portfolio. It is quicker to design solution for lesser mortals and a huge help as blind spots are faced for everybody experienced or new to driving. Definitely a necessity than a gimmick!
By Abhijeet Singh
Source: https://autotechreview.com
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