DIY Vehicle Rear Vision System

Vehicles that have a backup camera installed have many obvious benefits. Of course, navigating parking lots, and especially helping one parallel park, are great, and they even expand your view lower than a simple mirror. This lower view means that you can see and avoid shorter objects, such as children, pets, or other obstructions that, dangerously, you might normally miss. In fact, according to creator Peter Ma’s video seen here, over 2,500 children get treated for vehicle backup each year.

On the other hand, not all cars are fitted with these devices, so he, along with Mica Wong, have come up with an Android-based system that acts as a sort of smart license plate holder. The prototype device uses an Intel Joule for processing, along with an Intel RealSense Camera, and a Walabot 3D sensor to measure distance to an object behind the car, displayed in centimeters on the newly-installed screen.

Currently, the display is simply duct taped onto the car’s dashboard, but hopefully we will see this progress along with the currently 3D-printed license plate cover/camera holder. One excellent potential benefit of a system like this is that the screen isn’t restricted to the size that a manufacturer initially installs. Additionally, the display could be used for other applications when not helping expand one’s view.

The entire project can be found on Hackster.io, while code is available on GitHub if you’d like to check that out as well.