499 are you freaking kidding? Cool idea for older vehicles, but the price is off target for many...
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Dozens of Former Apple Employees Team Up to Launch ‘RearVision' Vehicle Camera
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Nobody wants to use their phone to back up the car. Here is the product I would buy. Wireless from backup camera to an included wireless rear view mirror. That is the goal. And people would pay good money for it.
For that price you could have an aftermarket solution installed that doesn't require a smartphone and isn't easily stolen or seen.
lol, I was being sarcastic about the airbags in new cars. Though as a retrofit, that's not a viable business. It would be far too expensive to add to older cars that didn't have them. You'd need sensors put in through out the car, and new molded components (a-pillars, side panels, ceiling headliner) just to get those airbag components in there. It costs thousands to put airbags back in a car that already has them (after they were deployed in an accident).
Cripes, a team of 53 people needed to make a backup camera? I don't care what company you came from, that's absolutely ridiculously inefficient. I'm sure they got some VC funding though even though you'd see this laughed out of shark tank, and that says something. Also, the need for your phone to be mounted to use it? Yeah... not going far.
I'm all for people doing there own thing and try to cheer them on, but at the same time, you got to make sure it's well thought through. This was not. Theft by a simple electric drill, drilling out the screws. I'm sure the thieves could fetch about $250 on craigslist. Not bad for 2 minutes of work.
I'm all for people doing there own thing and try to cheer them on, but at the same time, you got to make sure it's well thought through. This was not. Theft by a simple electric drill, drilling out the screws. I'm sure the thieves could fetch about $250 on craigslist. Not bad for 2 minutes of work.
A group of three former Apple engineers, along with around 50 various designers and workers also formerly employed by Apple, have created a new startup in the vehicle accessory market, called Pearl, and today announced pre-orders on their product "RearVision." The $500 device is an attachable license plate accessory that connects via Bluetooth to an iOS or Android smartphone, displaying a 180-degree rear-view field of vision when backing up your car (via The Verge).
The RearVision unit comes with a dongle that connects with a vehicle's on-board diagnostic port to help communicate and determine the car's speed, and battery power isn't a concern since the device charges using an integrated solar panel. Bryan Gardner, one of the co-founders of the company, said that one full day of sun equates to an entire week of charge for the device, and the RearVision can store one month of battery in its reserves.
Otherwise, the device functions like many integrated rear-view cameras: when backing up, the device's dual-camera system automatically sends video to the connected smartphone in optional portrait view (with two levels of zoom) or landscape view. Two alternate alerts emit from the smartphone when the RearVision camera wants the user to slow down for a passerby or another car, and a more insistent sound when a collision might be imminent and the driver should stop the car completely.
Once the car is in forward motion above 10 mph, RearVision shuts off the rear-view camera and moves into a "Home Screen" section of the app. Here, users can choose their favorite and most used driving apps -- Google Maps, Apple Maps, Spotify, Apple Music, etc -- and place them in the Home Screen of RearVision's app, which is generally a launching shortcut to quickly access the designated apps while on the move.
Gardner hopes that the company's angle to support an install base of users (who have older cars without pre-installed rear-view cameras) will help promote safety in the automotive industry. The National Highway Safety Administration recently put into motion a ruling that will make all new cars launching in 2018 and beyond come with such technology ready for the user, but that still leaves a large swath of used and pre-owned vehicles without the ease-of-mind rear-view cameras can provide.
Those interested can pre-order the RearVision today for $499.99, with Pearl promising its knowledge of the Apple supply chain will help greatly in eliminating "any of the manufacturing pitfalls that have become common among small hardware startups." The company also says that set-up is simple and doesn't require anything besides a screwdriver and your smartphone. As of writing, the predicted shipping date for Pearl's RearVision camera is sometime in September.
Article Link: Dozens of Former Apple Employees Team Up to Launch 'RearVision' Vehicle Camera
Sadly my car's diagnostic port already occupied to support other devices. Cool if can hold up to the elements of severe heat and sunlight.
Nice, but $499?
I think I will just use the built in mirrors
I think I will just use the built in mirrors
Boy, they must be pissed that in the US backup cameras are now mandatory in every new car. Obviously they didn't foresee that federal regulation when they started this.
I imagine it communicates with the dongle, and the two are hard paired so you can't use one plate with another dongle, just like car radio face plates. So if someone steals the plate, they can't use it with any dongle except the one that was in that car. Which of course they could also steal if they break into the car. Actually that just makes it worse, because it gives people a new reason to break into your car, to steal a $500 device. Might as well take the radio while they're at it!
I guess you'd have to take the dongle with you every time you leave the car, which no one is going to do of course.
I have a car built in 1990 that I paid roughly $4500 for. I'm going to spend 10% of its value for a backup camera?
I think not.
MacDann
I think not.
MacDann
Besides the painfully bloated price, the biggest and most pressing issue is the tech itself. First, this assumes that you have a phone-mount in your car...this isn't a huge leap so I'll give it to them. Second, how often are you going to unlock your phone, find the app, launch the app, wait for bluetooth to connect, then back up....not gonna happen. I know that when I'm parallel parking on a busy street I want to take all these steps before putting the car in reverse. This is the CurrentC of the backup camera solutions. I'll pass.
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For that price it better come with it's own iphone.
Noooooo. This won't get stolen.
This is an over-priced luxury item that's a niche. The people that could afford it already have vehicles with backup cameras.
Maybe this is why the former Apple employees are former Apple employees.
This is an over-priced luxury item that's a niche. The people that could afford it already have vehicles with backup cameras.
Maybe this is why the former Apple employees are former Apple employees.
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You've got to be kidding me right? Legislation for backup cameras? Do you hear yourself talking? Why? Is backing up at 4 miles an hour with the possibility of scratching/denting your bumper deemed a worth while effort of your representatives to create and pass a law REQUIRING it?
Next thing you're going to be saying they should pass a law that shoe manufactures need at least 1/2" sole's on shoes otherwise it could hurt your feet/back.
This is for cars built before 2018 that don't have a rearview camera. Obviously cars that fall under the mandate won't need this. A lot of people keep there cars for years or buy used -- even in 2018, 2019. This is for them.
The part about having learned to drive without the camera....so did I. Can function without it....although it has been a huge convenience. The biggest catch with me after years of having no camera is actually remembering that I have one.
This is what happens when you're insulated from the rest of the world in Silicon Valley. Us normal folk don't have a problem going to *gasp* Best Buy and having them install a Pioneer audio system with a backup camera.
A car backing at 4 MPH is fast enough to kill a child. In fact it's why the law came into being. Here is a few of the 1000s.
Your analogy is wildly misplaced.
Most older cars don't even need this accessory because you can actually see out the back of them. Newer cars, you can't because they sit much higher up and have larger pillars.
Besides the painfully bloated price, the biggest and most pressing issue is the tech itself. First, this assumes that you have a phone-mount in your car...this isn't a huge leap so I'll give it to them. Second, how often are you going to unlock your phone, find the app, launch the app, wait for bluetooth to connect, then back up....not gonna happen. I know that when I'm parallel parking on a busy street I want to take all these steps before putting the car in reverse. This is the CurrentC of the backup camera solutions. I'll pass.
They already do. And you can already buy these.
If your car supports it, the wiring loom to the rear will have the connections for a camera, in not you can run wires to the driver LCD which sometimes supports a video input. The power comes from the reverse light, i.e. when the reverse light is on, the camera is powered.
How old are you talking about? Car platforms haven't changed much in the past 10 years.
I guess working at Apple didn't teach them about pricing. Not everyone is as braindead as certain Fanboys.... 500 bucks for a rear camera? Are you fricking out of your mind??
