I have a 2015 Honda CRV. Back up cameras were standard in all Hondas starting in 2015. My camera has two views – a view straight out and a view straight down. I don’t use the view straight down – the salesman showed me how but I forgot. I guess I could google it.
I always turn and look both ways when backing into a spot or out of a spot. After I look both ways I will use it when I back straight out, to see if there’s something like a pole there to make sure I am not too close to the pole. I will or may also continue to look myself by turning my head.
My backup camera has lines on it to show you where the back of the vehicle is and to show you if you open the trunk tailgate where you’ll hit. That way, if you’re close to a pole or a wall and you want to open the trunk it won’t scrape.
I don’t use it as much as some people. I guess not totally trusting it comes from learing to drive in an era where there were no such things as backup cameras. Maybe young people now will totally rely on and trust them.
Last night on NPR radio (Freakonomics) they were talking about automated driving systems and how in some ways they’ll be better than human driven cars because they’ll never drive drunk or anything like that. They said when there’s an accident, the manufacturer of the system that’s driving the car that’s at fault will be the one to pay. I was thiking it’s hard to imagine living in that world but it is here and will be more commonplace, the way backup cameras used to be so strange and high tech and now they’re commonplace.
One more thing – I remember many moosn ago when we just had two brake lights. When we started having the third center brake light and then it became standard, that felt weird too but now not having that third light would be weird. What was once way out and high tech becomes something we don’t think twice about.