Rear Monitor

[AtlantaCpl]

After reading Scott's excellent writeup (link posted above) I decided to do this during my vacation this week. Before tearing into it I stopped by my local Best Buy to get a feel for their installer and the cost. The installer had 20 years experience and the price to move the monitor from the Pyle to the Kenwood 7190HD was $39. DONE!

The fellow impressed me so much I went ahead and had him install an audiovox ($89) for the front camera and the labor was $99 for that. So for $230 and 2 hours of time I have this exactly the way I want it. This is much superior to the Pyle setup in my opinion.

Can someone who has done it post which wire is connected to the parking brake? The Best Buy installer couldn't ground that wire due to corporate legal blah blah so I will have to do that part myself.

[David M]

Originally Posted by AtlantaCpl

Can someone who has done it post which wire is connected to the parking brake? The Best Buy installer couldn't ground that wire due to corporate legal blah blah so I will have to do that part myself.

Since we both have 2013s, here's a pic of the light green wire I grounded:

[GAGal]

We had a 2013 and the monitor was perfect. We upgraded to a 2014.5 and the Pyle monitor is of no use to us. The color and hue is not adjustable to be used but the major complaint we have is that a vehicle directly behind us( a few feet) appear to be about a half mile away in the monitor. We totally have to rely on the side view mirrors. We have been to the RV dealer and the Mercedes dealership / interstate dealer in Atlanta. They both say its normal and cannot be changed. Has anyone else had this issue?


Sent from my iPad using Airstream Forums

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by GAGal

We had a 2013 and the monitor was perfect. We upgraded to a 2014.5 and the Pyle monitor is of no use to us. The color and hue is not adjustable to be used but the major complaint we have is that a vehicle directly behind us( a few feet) appear to be about a half mile away in the monitor. We totally have to rely on the side view mirrors. We have been to the RV dealer and the Mercedes dealership / interstate dealer in Atlanta. They both say its normal and cannot be changed. Has anyone else had this issue?

The Pyle monitor has a fish-eye lens that distorts the image, further complicated by the fact that it is mounted high and angled downward. A camera mounted at the level of the rear door handle or the license plate wouldn't have quite as distorted an image, but things in adjacent lanes will still look farther away than things directly behind you in your lane. And a lower-mounted light would be more subject to being blinded by the headlights on the car behind at night, too. So for me the high-mount fisheye lens is a reasonable compromise.

I find that the rear-view camera is ideal when I'm towing my Honda, or if I have my cargo tray attached to the hitch, because the camera lets me keep an eye on the load. It's also good for backing, to make sure you don't run over anything since you can see almost down to your rear bumper.

But for highway cruising, I find it's a lot more important to keep track of other traffic with the four side mirrors. If you adjust the flat and convex mirrors on each side, you can more-or-less eliminate blind spots; as soon as a vehicle is close enough to disappear off the rear-view camera, you can pick him up on the side mirrors, and by the time he disappears off the side mirrors, you can see him out the window.

I never use the rear-view camera to determine passing distance. To see when I'm far enough ahead to cut back into my original lane, I look at the vehicle I'm passing in the flat passenger-side mirror. If I can see the whole front of the vehicle in that mirror, and not just a slice of the vehicle's front end, I'm far enough ahead to cut back in front of him without cutting him off.

[avanti]

Just for the record, our 2014 Sprinter came with the new blind-spot assist feature. It is a radar-thing that yells at you if you try to change lanes when it isn't safe. It is totally awesome. I miss it when driving other vehicles.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by avanti

Just for the record, our 2014 Sprinter came with the new blind-spot assist feature. It is a radar-thing that yells at you if you try to change lanes when it isn't safe. It is totally awesome. I miss it when driving other vehicles.

Scratching the itch of curiosity, does it prevent you from cutting them off by changing lanes too close in front, or just keep you from hitting them directly?

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Scratching the itch of curiosity, does it prevent you from cutting them off by changing lanes too close in front, or just keep you from hitting them directly?

There is a defined area to the left- and right-side of the Sprinter that it considers "unsafe to change lanes". Whenever there is a vehicle in one of the "unsafe zones", a red triangle lights up in the corresponding outside mirror. If you turn on the your turn signal in that direction, it starts beeping and flashing the triangle in an effort to dissuade you from actually changing lanes.

To answer your question: Yes, the "unsafe zone" extends far enough behind the vehicle such that by the time the light goes out you are generally far-enough ahead of the other vehicle such that it would be polite to pull in front of them. It is really pretty magical.

All of this is complemented by "lane assist", which is even more magical: There is a camera near the top of the windshield that watches the lines on the highway and starts beeping if you start to drift out of your lane without signaling first. Sounds annoying, but it is very well tuned. I love it. Sure does drive home how distracting fiddling with the radio or nav system really is!

[Boxster1971]

Interesting steps in technology that will lead to self driving vehicles.


- - Mike
2013 AS Interstate on 2012 MB Sprinter

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

Interesting steps in technology that will lead to self driving vehicles.


- - Mike
2013 AS Interstate on 2012 MB Sprinter

I will never place myself solely at the mercy of a machine, not even a self-driving car. Machines may be able to perform tasks better, but the one thing they can't do is decide better than a person. Look at how often a GPS will send you in the wrong direction…

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

I will never place myself solely at the mercy of a machine, not even a self-driving car. Machines may be able to perform tasks better, but the one thing they can't do is decide better than a person. Look at how often a GPS will send you in the wrong direction…

Do you ride the inter-terminal trains at the airport? How about BART? These systems have no human in the loop during routine operation and they are safer for it.

I couldn't disagree with your position more. I am all for the industry taking this slowly--one step at a time (which is what they are doing). But I will take any bets that the highway death rate will plummet as self-driving technology takes hold in the next few years. I can't wait.

BTW: You can already buy cars that will self-steer on the highway. As Mike suggests, this is just a tiny step beyond what my Sprinter already does.

[AtlantaCpl]

But you have to look at it this way pro, the assist features and automation behind the wheel isn't for us. It is for the 18 year old coed I just cursed out at a stop light an hour ago for trying to text on her phone while driving 50mph on the highway. She's going to kill someone. I trust the computers way more than the idiots I see on the road.

Brian

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by avanti

Do you ride the inter-terminal trains at the airport? How about BART? These systems have no human in the loop during routine operation and they are safer for it.

They run on tracks, and there IS a human in the loop. Sitting at a computer in a switchyard perhaps, but even the most automated rapid transit system still has SOME human oversight, just not on the individual trains.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by AtlantaCpl

But you have to look at it this way pro, the assist features and automation behind the wheel isn't for us. It is for the 18 year old coed I just cursed out at a stop light an hour ago for trying to text on her phone while driving 50mph on the highway. She's going to kill someone. I trust the computers way more than the idiots I see on the road.

I can't fault that. BUT, where I run into heartburn is when the car finds itself in a no-win situation, where the only choice is a bad choice, and your chance of survival relies on choosing the lesser evil in a split second. Such as sideswiping the guy next to you to avoid being hit head-on (been there, done that, except I was the one sideswiped when the guy next to me swerved to avoid a head-on). Until I know that an automated system will default to the least-bad alternative, and not default to doing nothing, I can't trust them.

Maybe when every car on the road is automated, the cars will be able to work out such conundrums between themselves, but as long as there is one human in control, all humans have to be in control. Compare to a private plane in a traffic pattern with commercial airliners. The airliners talk to each other, and the collision avoidance system tells the pilots, "Bank left. Bank left NOW." As long as all planes involved have the system, the system works. But the private pilot without a collision avoidance system can defeat the airliner's system by doing something unpredictable.

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by AtlantaCpl

But you have to look at it this way pro, the assist features and automation behind the wheel isn't for us. It is for the 18 year old coed I just cursed out at a stop light an hour ago for trying to text on her phone while driving 50mph on the highway. She's going to kill someone. I trust the computers way more than the idiots I see on the road.

Brian

Oh - I think this technology will also be helpful for old geezers; as I age into my 70's and 80's I'll still want to drive safely. I think the baby boomers need this new technology just as much as young drivers.

[Sebtown]

My B would probably get a lot more use if nobody had to drive! Imagine programming your trip and being treated like a passanger. I can see myself making a sandwich and perhaps taking a nap all while traveling down the highway. Unfortunately this dream is to far into the future to be of benefit to me so I will continue to hang onto the wheel and drive myself!

[Tomy]

Self drivings cars still seem creepy, but as one involved in some of the technology going forward, I can say that the two great technologies that will save many lives are 'driver-assistance' and the 'connected car.'

The driver assistance is everything from help with parking, to warning when you've got someone in your blindside.

The connected car is more interesting. If all cars are connected, you can have realtime traffic reports. A car in an accident a mile up the road can warn all nearby cars.

A vehicle careening across the median can notice that it's not following the known path of the highway (which is reported thousands of times a day by all the other cars), and warn all nearby vehicles.

But until every car on the road has this ability, I'm not ready to trust the self driving car. I'm not sure a self driving car has 'road rage' avoidance, or drunk driver avoidance.

Have they programmed in the behavior of deer? When my family was driving across Wyoming to Yellowstone, a large deer crossed our path, and I somehow manage to take what would have been a full head-on, to a graze denting the entire side of the car. The self driving car won't be able to do that until we have millions of scenarios collected from the connected cars. Then we can model every deer accident and provide the statistically best response in all situations and faster than a human.

The success of Tesla combined with Google's activity in self driving cars has put Detroit on notice. Other than BMW, I don't think many auto makers have embraced the technology, but they're all ears now.

Silicon valley coming after the automakers is good for all of us in the long run.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Tomy

The driver assistance is everything from help with parking, to warning when you've got someone in your blindside.

As long as driver's education cars DON'T have driver assistance, I'm all for it. But just like we have to learn how to do math the hard way before we are allowed to do it on a calculator, driver's need to learn to drive the old-fashioned way before they use the driver assistance features. Just so they don't learn to use it as a crutch.

[Tomy]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

As long as driver's education cars DON'T have driver assistance, I'm all for it. But just like we have to learn how to do math the hard way before we are allowed to do it on a calculator, driver's need to learn to drive the old-fashioned way before they use the driver assistance features. Just so they don't learn to use it as a crutch.

Yes, that is the danger with these technologies. People become dependent on them. I saw a study once where accidents were less likely to occur at four way stops than at intersections with lights. Four way stops tend to make people more careful.

[avanti]

In addition to the safety and convenience advantages, these technologies are going to make dramatic improvements in efficiency and environmental impact. For example, "connected cars" will be able to travel in convoys, with a cluster of vehicles following tightly in each others slipstream, thus saving immense amounts of fuel.

After working on the GM Futurama exhibit for the 1939 New York World's Fair, Norman Bell Geddes wrote a book called "Magic Motorways". It is a fascinating thing to read today. Among his predictions was that eventually we would stop building overpasses where highways cross. They would just cross with the cars happily interleaving with perfect timing.

How's that for a calming vision? :-)

[Tomy]

Originally Posted by avanti

In addition to the safety and convenience advantages, these technologies are going to make dramatic improvements in efficiency and environmental impact. For example, "connected cars" will be able to travel in convoys, with a cluster of vehicles following tightly in each others slipstream, thus saving immense amounts of fuel.

After working on the GM Futurama exhibit for the 1939 New York World's Fair, Norman Bell Geddes wrote a book called "Magic Motorways". It is a fascinating thing to read today. Among his predictions was that eventually we would stop building overpasses where highways cross. They would just cross with the cars happily interleaving with perfect timing.

How's that for a calming vision? :-)

I've often thought about this. In the scenario of a self driving car, if it knew the timing and state of all traffic lights, it could adjust its speed to not require braking.

Of course I can imagine the horror of the passengers as it accelerates towards a red light, since it knows when it will change and it is already adjusting speed for the next light.

When the self driving car becomes a reality, I suppose that will make taxi drivers an endangered species.