If a buyer opts for the Full Solar option, it appears that the rear window is going to be almost totally covered with solar panels.
Would it not make sense to remove the Glass, assuming that is what will be there. Replace it with composite and lose the weight of the glass window. That would also make it more difficult for people to see items in the storage area. If you really dont want them to see, there could be a pull down to block seeing from the other windows.
You may even be able to slide in some extra panels and up the daily gain in charging.
I think there is a rear view camera already.
I did see that they are already looking at replacing glass with composite, but in this situation, it is just body color. No extra cost for transparent composite.
A potential solution might be to set up something like a horizontal camera obscura that uses lenses to project onto a mirror internal to the vehicle. Maybe this would satisfy the regulators? There is still technically a mirror present, and it is an analog solution. On a minus side, it would complicate things a bit (designing optics and mountings so that image is aligned correctly over time and temperature range, image is not inverted, address the safety issues associated with potentially having eyes and lenses and the sun on an axis, ensuring optical components are mechanically coupled for syncing vibration, address risk of getting condensation on the optics, setting up reliable supply chain for new parts, etc, etc). On a plus side, if it is an ideal solution, then use it for all models and get rid of the rear glass entirely (not sure rear glass serves any other purpose than for rear vision?)
I'd really like to have a HUD along with voice-command. Extra points for augmented reality displays that include symbolic displays of vehicles on all sides. That way you should not have to take your eyes off the road
I used to have a Class A 40 ft. RV. Only side mirrors were required by law but mine and all of the large RVs I've seen have a camera near the top center rear position that operates whenever the ignition is on. Mine had a 180 degree field of vision adjusted to see the car I was flat towing and well above the horizon.
New rigs have cameras all around with an integrated monitor that stitches the views together to present a surround view as if you were looking down from above. My brother-in-law has a new Lexus SUV that has similar capabilities. Some include motion detectors that record everything that moves around the vehicle. I'd pay $500 for that option and seriously consider it even if it was more than that.
That's a good one, but unfortunately you'd loose at least in CA court, since the law says "a mirror", so it's definitely a noun.
I would argue that the "Mirror" is a verb and not a Noun. Thus my screen is a mirroring what I would see out the back window. In computers, there data storage "Mirror sites", the reflection is data, not photons.
I agree with all of that except "don't sell them there". I think they should find the best work-arounds that make it just barely legal by the letter of the law, with tiny useless mirrors or windows that you never use because there are cameras/screens.
Great idea. Screw Colorado, don't sell them there until they change the law. Why don't they have a law that says the rearview mirror cannot get loose and lose its adjusted position, as it does with different height drivers jerking it around to point properly? Huh? What about that, Colorado?
The backup camera on my Chevy Bolt is very clear and has overlaid grid lines to help guide. A camera-fed display right where the good old rearview mirror sits would not have to constantly be checked and readjusted. Plus the presentation could be enhanced by software, instead of a haze of glare, could present the outline of the pickup behind you with misaligned ultra-brite (TM) LED headlights.
The full solar option has no glass in the hatch, the solar cells are bonded to the normal composite substrate as the other solar panels. The center rear view mirror works via the videocamera in the top of the hatch. I wanted to get full solar, but Colorado law (and maybe other states) appears to require autocycles to have outside left and right mirrors if there is no rear window or it is obstructed by cargo.
https://www.aptera.us/forum/main/comment/6004a96fc5842500ce7b1156 not sure why people want a rear window, assuming currently a rear window is structurally worse for crashes per mass than default body material at rear. some alternative designs at link.
I think Nathan mentioned in yesterday's Zoom that they are looking at replacing glass wherever it proves feasible to save weight. They still have to evaluate the performance of glass substitutes, however.