Rosco Presents “Bus with No Mirrors” Concept Vehicle at NAPT Show

Rosco Vision Systems, celebrating its 100 year anniversary in ’07, presents its “Vision of the Future” – a concept school / activity bus with no mirrors.

November 2006, Jamaica, New York – Rosco, a company long known to be the leading mirror supplier in the school bus industry, with its interior and exterior mirror products installed as “standard” on all major OEM buses and Types A, B, C, and D, ironically presents the “Bus with No Mirrors” concept vehicle at the National Association of Pupil Transportation (NAPT) show in Kansas City, MO. A lesser-known fact is that Rosco is also a niche vehicle camera system manufacturer and has supplied cameras to the truck industry in select markets such as utility, emergency and rescue, and walk-in vans for the past five years. Ben Englander, Rosco’s VP of Engineering, quotes, “The future of the automotive industry will be a convergence of mirror and camera technologies which will present the driver with 360-degree panoramic views of their surroundings, thus improving safety for the driver and occupants, as well as pedestrians and other vehicles on the road. We chose to exploit the “camera only” concept at NAPT to increase awareness that camera technology is here today and can supplement mirror systems short term, while possibly replacing mirrors in the long term as technology leaps forward and regulations keep pace.”

The concept Chevy 610 platform utilized six exterior cameras, one interior camera, four color LCD monitors, and a transmission algorithm that chose the optimal four camera views to display based on whether the vehicle was in park, reverse, or drive. The design of the algorithm and positioning of the cameras were tested at Rosco with actual school children performing a series of load and off-load tests combined with street crossings. Additionally, Rosco recorded all camera video with a mobile DVR system, which has the capacity to allow for a full day of bus routing to be downloaded and saved.