Have you ever come to an obstacle in the trail and thought, "Hell, I'm not sure if I'm going to fit," or better yet, "I know I can fit, but how do I know where my wheels are so I don't fall down this gaping hole"?
It's a situation that's all too common for UTV drivers as, despite their less intrusive blind spots, they still have them. You've got folks who've given them lifts, bigger tires, and all manner of accessories and, as such, made it much harder to see if you're doing everything right. There are also situations like rock crawling where precise wheel placement is key.
That seems to be the reasoning behind Polaris, makers of the RZR UTV, patenting a camera system that combines three separate cameras at the front of the vehicle. At least, that's what it looks like to me.
According to the patent we discovered, which is very vaguely titled "Vehicle," Polaris aims to put a forward-facing camera at the nose of an RZR, as well as two side-mounted cameras near and just below the side mirrors. The three cameras combine to form a quasi-360-degree view like you'd get in most modern trucks, SUVs, and other vehicles to make parking, off-roading, and other tasks that much easier.
But in the case of Polaris, this would likely be more for things like rock crawling, off-roading, and general hoonery as parking ain't that hard.
The patent states that, in relation to the supplied drawing Figure 7A, "is top view illustrating a fixed camera and associated viewing angles on a vehicle of the present disclosure," while Figure 7B is "is a top view illustrating a movable camera and associated viewing angles on a vehicle of the present disclosure."
The two figures show a three-camera array that gives the driver a full view of what's going on at the front, which would be hella handy, and likely fed into Polaris' infotainment screen inside the cabin.
However, little else throughout the patent really goes into detail about what's going on or how the system would be controlled. All we really get is this snippet of what the company is likely planning for a future RZR option. And it's definitely innovative and one I'd love to try out on some technical crawls, as I think they'd make a world a difference.
We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
