Rearview back-up cameras are very useful, but aren't much good when it comes to squeezing around, say, a double parked truck on a narrow street. Some vehicles now offer side and front-view cameras that can help, but they give distorted wide-angle images. That makes it difficult to judge just how close you are to gouging a fender or cracking a turn signal lamp.
The Around View Monitor, offered on Nissan's Infiniti EX, uses simple computation to solve the problem. It takes images from four wide-angle cameras - one on each side and each end of the car - digitally flattens them and combines them into what appears to be an aerial view of your own vehicle. With this, you can easily see where your car is in relation to everything nearby. It is like having your own private satellite hovering over your car and beaming down images as you drive around that truck.
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