Beta interior with a rear view mirror?

[BigSky Country]

I found it interesting to see the side camera locations above the yoke with a full rear view mirror on the windshield. I wonder how they will solve that for those of us that reserved with full solar.

[Thomas Bushaw]

There will be a rear view camera. I believe its display is in the same location as the traditional rear view mirror.

[Francis Giroux]

Yes I noticed that “mirror” on the Beta mock-up too, but it is only a mock-up. I also noticed that the side window “beam” is wider in the mock-up but hopefully not in the future reality. Also notice the side view mirrors in the mock-up below.

• This reply was modified 3 months, 1 week ago by  Francis Giroux.
• This reply was modified 3 months, 1 week ago by  Francis Giroux.

[Jonah Jorgenson]

This is a rendering not a mockup so not a physical representation of the Aptera beta cabin. The review mirror (In the conventional position) will be tied to a camera at the top of the hatch to provide a view similar to what a standard review mirror does in ICE vehicles. There is clear space in the full rear hatch solar array for this camera so the view will not be obscured if you have the full hatch solar array.

There will also be a backup camera (Required by law in the U.S.) that will give a backup view the same as current backup cameras provide.

More than enough rear visibility if you include the side, rear facing camera images visible on the new display above the yoke.

Questions for knowledgeable forum participants. It looks like a standard glove box in place of the portfolio version in the Aptera. Am I misinterpreting the image? I see no front facing cameras that might be used for Safety Pilot Leve II. Is that an indication that Safety Pilot will use Lidar or that no decisions on Safety Pilot application HW/SW made yet? No solar cells on the dash. With the addition of extras on the exterior, does this mean they are deleting the dash solar cells? Finally, no cup holders??

• This reply was modified 3 months, 1 week ago by  Jonah Jorgenson. Reason: add qquestions
• This reply was modified 3 months, 1 week ago by  Jonah Jorgenson. Reason: add questions

[Joshua Rosen]

They aren’t charging enough for Safety Pilot for it to include LIDAR.

ADAS systems don’t require attention monitors because they don’t drive the car, they are mostly just warnings. They might have lane keep, would be nice if they also have automatic breaking although a loud warning would do most of the job. Systems that are attempting to do some level of self driving like Tesla’s FSD do require driver attention monitoring because they don’t work well enough yet to actually drive the car without full driver attention.

[Jonah Jorgenson]

According to the spec sheet for the Aptera Safety Pilot, Aptera’s implementation includes driver monitoring and emergency braking.

“Includes facial tracking, lane keep, adaptive cruise, and emergency braking.”

Quote from August 2020 Shift article on Lidar development.

“Huawei isn’t the only company to aim for the sub-$100 price bracket. Specialist LiDAR developers Velodyne said earlier this year that it also has a $100 sensor arrangement ready for market.”

Chinese always seem to be ahead of things in the EV domain.

[Joshua Rosen]

The only car in the US that has LIDAR is the Lucid Air, you can buy four or five Apteras for the price of an Air. XPeng has LIDAR in their top of the line model. $100 LIDAR is the goal but I doubt it’s available now.

[Jonah Jorgenson]

@kerbe2705 Thanks for taking the time to answer the questions and including the pics.

A hoot about auto designers and cup holders!

[Jonah Jorgenson]

Velodyne Lidar is selling $100 lidars now. (Velabit small – 2.4 x 2.4 x 1.38, 100m range, 90degree horizontal and 70 degree vertical FOV – designed for ADAS use, not driverless use) Mercedes Benz just signed a contract with them to use the 2nd Gen Velabit sensor for the Daimler driverless/ADAS development. Ford uses Velodyne lidar in its products. Velodyne has a three year sensor contract with Bidu as well. Of course they do software for their sensor too.

I an an National Guard Apache Pilot. The Apache uses FLIR. It would be difficult to beat FLIR technically, but certainly not anywhere close to cost effective for a retail vehicle.

[kerbe2705]

@Jonah Jorgenson They’ve said (in videos and webinars) that the Safety Pilot system will be camera-only. I know that Sandy Munro has talked with them about including FLIR’s heat-sensing camera system but don’t know the outcome.

Automotive designers DESPISE two things: Door handles and cupholders. This is why they are rarely seen in renderings and show cars. Just because you can’t see it in a rendering doesn’t mean it’s not there. This image shows that the rear-view “mirror” is an adjustable video monitor – note the cable – while the unit in the Alpha prototypes was stationary.

[kerbe2705]

@Jonah Jorgenson Note that the dashboard solar cells are visible in these renderings:

[Jonah Jorgenson]

👍 Thanks