On many new vehicle models, drivers have little visibility with regard to their immediate surroundings. Side and rear windows are becoming increasingly small, while the exterior shape of vehicles is dictated by aerodynamics and pedestrian safety, meaning precise, secure maneuvering and parking are almost impossible.
Valeo’s multi-camera system helps the driver by providing a view of the vehicle’s environment. Miniature cameras record the surroundings and transmit the images to an intelligent control unit, which processes them and optimizes them before displaying them on the vehicle’s color screen.
The 360Vue® system offers the driver different views, including an aerial view of the vehicle, providing a complete vision of the immediate environment. Another feature is the “cross traffic” perspective which enables the driver to see around corners, which is very useful at a junction without visibility, or when exiting a car park.
The system can display a single image or a number of views on the same screen. In a word, the 360Vue® system helps the driver to maneuver the vehicle easily, safely and precisely. Valeo uses the latest CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) technology in its cameras, ensuring a good image quality even in poor lighting conditions or in highly contrasted lighting – when entering or exiting an underground car park, for example. To monitor the widest possible area, the cameras have a wide angle view of up to 180°. 
This normally results in a fish-eye effect, but this is corrected here by an algorithm, allowing the driver to see a natural, immediately understandable image of the surroundings.
Source: Valeo
Romain’s opinion:
This technology equips today Audi A6, BMW X6 and Range Rover Evoque. Do you think it will be embedded in urban vehicles in the future? Because, according to me the feature offered doesn’t seem to match with the purpose of the mentioned vehicles.
