Lexus Drops Night Vision Tech
Lexus has decided to discard a technology in its vehicles for the 2014 model year that you probably didn’t care about in the first place.
“Night View,” which is a branded name for the night vision system found in certain Lexus and Toyota vehicles on the road today, is being discontinued for the 2014 model year. Lexus spokesman Bill Kwong confirmed that the company decided to stop offering it because there weren’t many people opting for it.
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The system uses near-infrared light to detect pedestrians and objects that might be hard for drivers to see at night. Trouble is, that calls for the driver looking away from the road, even if it’s on a heads-up display.
An early adopter of the technology, BMW has no intention to follow suit. “That is not our plan,” said Dave Buchkow of BMW PR. Quite the contrary. “In fact, we’ve just enhanced our system with the addition of animal detection to compliment the pedestrian detection system that BMW was first to introduce.”
Buchkow did admit that take-rates for night vision in BMW models is “relatively low” though he cautioned that this, “is typical of high-dollar options initially,” comparing it to when BMW first introduced navigation back in 1997.
Other automakers currently offering night vision systems include Mercedes-Benz and Audi. The last Lexus model to offer Night View was the 2013 GS.
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Luke is an energetic automotive journalist who spends his time covering industry news and crawling the internet for the latest breaking story. When he isn't in the office, Luke can be found obsessively browsing used car listings, drinking scotch at his favorite bar and dreaming of what to drive next, though the list grows a lot faster than his bank account. He's always on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> looking for a good car conversation. Find Luke on <A title="@lukevandezande on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/lukevandezande">Twitter</A> and <A title="Luke on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/112531385961538774338?rel=author">Google+</A>.
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