New panoramic 360-degree parking camera unveiled

By Digby Fullam

First Official Pictures

18 November 2008 14:13

Having trouble parking? Japanese manufacturer Fujitsu has announced the world’s first 360-degree camera for cars, giving drivers a panoramic view of what’s around them.

It’s a slightly controversial claim, as Nissan showed a similar system in 2007, but Fujitsu says its new camera has various technical firsts.

Essentially, yes. But Fujitsu claims that current rear-view camera systems don’t offer a full view of what’s behind and are let down by significant blindspots. Its new system shows the driver a full perspective model – so they see a ‘real’ 360deg view of the world that’s far easier to interpret. Drivers can choose the perspective, from bird’s-eye to a ground-level view of the outside of the car – so they can easily spot pedestrians, other cars or a low wall.

Fujitsu claims its system not only assists during parking, but could also work at higher speeds – eliminating blind spots when joining a motoway, for instance.

A super-fast processing time of 30 milliseconds makes the system virtually real time.

By DigFullam