I find odd to have 3 screens for rear view (left, right and top middle). Why not having 1 medium size screen behind the steering wheel and remove these 3 small screens.
It would be nice to have a fused picture of the rear cameras on this screen and add basic information like speed, basic GPS directions, cruise control settings information...
It would also look better, be more practical and probably cheaper.
I guess that for European models, there won't be any mirrors at all as it is allowed to have cameras instead.
Oh, and one last thing about camera. I hope that you are making sure that the aerodynamic will not make the cameras dirty during winder. In all my previous cars, the manufacturers have always placed the rear camera in the worst place possible and it become ultra dirty quickly and we can not see anything on the screen anymore. The air moved by the car will go up and push wet dirt on the lens.
I think it would be fine. "Want to see aft? Look here." (left OR right, makes no difference)...:
We used to twist to the right to see what's at our left when backing up, & we now look to the screen at our right to see to the left when backing up.
We look to the rearview mirror at our right to see what's to our left rear. If I recall correctly, looking slightly right on my Wink showed slightly left, & the reason I don't recall is that it was fine 😉.
I like the idea of combining all 3 mirrors into one screen. The left side would display what a left outside rear view mirror would see. Similarly the right side would display the right side information. The center would be the rear view mirror. This screen would be placed where a conventional rear view mirror would have been.
rear and side mirror screen at dash, spedometer compacted to a smaller line like thing rather than usual circle. see "speedometer" . all 4 parts can be in a single wide screen. the line speedometer allows comparing recommended speed and speed limit(like honda accord) with current speed without comprehending numbers., if the speed limit reader isnt reliable, a simple 2 digit spedometer will do.://www.aptera.us/forum/main/comment/6089c2065d0c250015c53875
instead of middle screen make app for phone(for minimal distraction ease of use that a big screen would give, for speaker control) and optional plugin hard switches for quick toggling like speaker volume. plugin microphone placed at front pillars (closest to mouth) can help make voice commands work even if cabin is loud with music or some kid or pet etc. presets can be made by user to set things to their preference instead of re configuring everything b/c another driver changed things to their preference, including even what audio is playing. https://www.aptera.us/forum/main/comment/5ff79bf582b26c001731915e
much of dashboard can be a dark tinted heads up display, so its visible even in bright conditions, but ideally a non glare type like this: https://www.aptera.us/forum/main/comment/602750716dfd4c001734b2cd not hat normal HUDs are any more glaring than screens, b/c there is not as affect of a screens "black levels".
cameras also need windshield wipers, if stuff from a construction vehicle or someone throwing food out their window in slower traffic happens, driver would have to hold up traffic by coming out of their car to wipe the stuff off camera, while with normal mirrors driver would simply roll down window and wipe the stuff off. areodynamics isnt enough for sticky stuff liek bird poop or someone throwing out food that happens to stick to the camera
https://www.aptera.us/forum/main/comment/6095fae355438f001599c5c0
it would also be nice to have a API for aftermarket to modify their aptera, and from there can potentially be stuff that aptera would like to advertise in its order menu b/c it adds value to their car that cant exist in other cars b/c other cars dont have the API for aftermarket to come up with creative sell-able stuff. aftermarket people have interest in that they advertise the product of their better. a example aftermarket thing is luxury feature like interior lighting that changes according to audio playing, or personalized fake engine noise type thing that needs connecting to cars pedal position, etc. when market is competitive, its gimicks like these that win customers by that little bit, its why even budget cars have options for expensive gimmicks nowdays.
This is a good idea for the next iteration of the Aptera. Don't want to interrupt the the current engineering flow/schedule from achieving production of the currently designed model for delivery this year and early next year
They have considered and modeled the air flow around cameras and the rear camera is not affected by this rather common problem.
This idea has been posted earlier. In the first instance, I thought it to be a great idea. Later on, I realized that in driving backwards, you want to see your front wheels. A screen as placed now will be easier to have in one few, your front wheel and your rear few. One does not to have to switch from a center few to side few.
I had a similar 5-panel "Wink" mirror on my 240Z & it was great, even with no side-view mirrors.
It replaced the sun visors. In other words, it blocked the sun the same as it would have to deploy the stock visors.
nice idea. It would be nice to have a panoramic undistorted view. I don't like having convex mirror distortion. We use a 35" Summit Racing mirror in the Porsche which is composed of 5 flat front faced mirrors aligned side by side for a full panoramic view. The only drawback is that you sacrifice the sun visors. The Aptera's rear facing center camera is placed high on the rear window so there should be no vortex pushing debris up to it.