Audi first with digital mirror

The world of motorsport has helped develop car aerodynamic and engine technology, now even the humble rearvision mirror has been improved by competition.

Audi has come up with new technology for keeping an eye on the road behind even when your car has no rear window - the digital rear-view mirror. As centre mirrors with auto-dimming capabilities become more common, the German carmaker's Le Mans program has spawned the new mirror system that will first appear in the small-scale production in the Audi R8 e-tron at the end of 2012.

The electric R8 e-tron sports coupe has no rear window (like the Audi Le Mans racecar) so a normal rearvision mirror is pointless, so Audi has come up with a digital rear-view 7.7in mirror that works like a reversing camera and monitor system. 

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The company says the intelligent control system allows the driver to adjust the display, which produces a high-definition image day or night and also prevents dazzle from the headlights of following vehicles. The company says there is also work being done to display extra information in the display.

Audi Australia spokesperson Anna Burgdorf said the mirror was the latest example of equipment and technology being developed in the field of motorsport. "It's technology used and tested under gruelling conditions in motorsport, and it does make it's way to production cars - turbodiesel and turbocharged petrol engine technology, LED lighting and numerous other technologies are developed and put into road-going cars in the future," she says.

The mirror displays images from a small lightweight camera mounted on what would normally be a rear window pane. The camera, which can be heated to maintain the image, feeds its view into a new display developed by Samsubg - an Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) display.

The lightweight next-generation display uses organic materials that are self-illuminating and don't require much power or backlighting. The digital rear-view mirror was used in the Le Mans 24 Hours in the R18 e-tron quattro and R18 ultra race cars which gave Audi a one-two-three win. Ms Burgdorf said the company would love to show the car in Australia but was unable to say when the car would be on display or on sale.

"We don't yet know the e-tron details, it will be a small production run vehicle shown later this year - we can't comment on it any further, we don't know what level of production is yet available." "Efficient electric motoring doesn't need to only be small cars, cars like the R8 e-tron demonstrate that even at the top end, electric motoring is possible and in the relatively near future," she says.