Car manufacturers these days are going crazy when it comes to high tech features. They compete about who makes the best high-tech cars, and most importantly, with the best safety systems. Augmented reality has been a trend in luxury cars, and it’s been used for the last few years in Cadillac cars. Cadillac’s night vision as well has been a center of debate and attention among car journalists, as this feature can be one of the craziest things you would find in a car.
Cadillac’s night vision is a different world itself. It’s a technology that helps the driver to drive properly at night through the digital instrument cluster. This thing can really amaze you if you know how it works. If you’ve ever been in a Cadillac Escalade, you’ve probably seen how the driver’s screen shows the road in front of him in a clearer way at night.
On the driver’s display appears the road that is in front of him as if it’s more laminated, so that he can see the road clearly in case there is an animal or a person passing in front of him somewhere on the road. However, this system works in a really astonishing way. It actually uses an infrared sensor that is located on the front end, just behind the grill.
This sensor is available to detect human beings, animals, or objects, and differentiate them by noticing variations in temperature. Amazing, right? Basically, when something appears whiter on the screen, it means that the object is radiating more heat. In other words, when something radiates a higher temperature and detected by the sensor, this object would appear clearer and whiter on the driver screen to catch the latter’s attention.
This Night Vision technology tends to make your night driving easier and safer. It also helps to keep animals safe around you. Imagine that a dog for example, a camel, or a deer crossing the road at night. More often, it might be difficult to quickly notice it. However, the night vision will help you notice it a good time before, so you can avoid hitting the poor animal. Here’s a surprising information.
The Night Vision feature is not designed to replace you but to help you. That’s why you still have to keep your eye open, and the Night vision will be there to help you pay a better attention to the road.
To use the Night Vision feature, you have to make sure your headlights are turned on. Note that the darker it is outside, the better the system will work. Then, you simply select the Night Vision mode on your instrument panel. When the system detects something at a distance of more than 25 meters, an amber-colored box will appear around the person or the animal detected. Additionally, an icon will flash on the panel, and if the thing detected is coming towards your vehicle quickly, the amber box will turn into red.
This high technology might be really modern to you, but in fact, it goes back to 2000. The 2000 Cadillac DeVille was the first production car to have the Night Vision technology, which made the General Motors the first automaker to provide the drivers with the safety benefits of extended night vision. The feature was then called Raytheon’s Night Vision, as it was developed in cooperation with Raytheon’s technology.
Hani started his career in Automotive Journalism when he was 10 years old as a talented photographer for automotive, hanging around cars all the time has created a passion for the automotive industry since day 1.
He is now a full time auto journalist and content creator for Motor 283.