Despite some cautionary notes, public comment on a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration advanced notice of proposed rulemaking largely favored permitting camera-based, rear-visibility systems to replace mirrors on light vehicles and heavy trucks.

ATLANTA — MEKRA Lang launched a new digital vision system at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show, announcing the sideview-mirror replacements will be standard equipment on Mercedes-Benz Actros trucks.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is seeking comments on an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking that could lead to camera-based, rear-visibility systems replacing mirrors on heavy trucks and cars.

Drivers in the U.S. may one day no longer have to crane their necks to check their blind spots if regulators agree to let high-tech cameras and screens replace the humble side-view mirror.

As digital technology in trucking grows, so, too, do the ways it can be combined.

Traditional truck telematics systems offer fleet managers a lot of data on the performance of their drivers and vehicles, but integrating onboard cameras can provide valuable information that those systems can’t capture on their own, according to technology suppliers.

It’s time that Class 8 commercial trucks deployed high-tech cameras instead of the assortment of mirrors — rearview, down view and blind spot — found on today’s tractors.

A growing number of carriers are outfitting their trucks with dual-lens cameras that simultaneously capture video of the road ahead and the driver at the wheel.