New Audi e-tron Electric SUV is getting ‘VIRTUAL’ mirrors

The new Audi e-tron – Audi’s new electric SUV aimed at the Jaguar I-Pace – will come with ‘virtual’ door mirrors, a first for a production car.

There once was a time when exterior mirrors on cars sat on the front wings, giving a better view and without blind spots. But pedestrian safety put paid to that and we now live with door mirrors which are often the size of a small bucket, complete with blind spots and adding width and ugliness.

You would have though we’d have had production cars with ‘virtual’ mirrors by now using a camera instead of a mirror to give a better, wider view behind without the size and ugliness. But despite being a feature of concept cars for what seems like forever, they haven’t made it in to a production car. Until now.

Now Audi has revealed that the new e-tron SUV – aimed at the Jaguar I-Pace and Mercedes EQ C – will come with virtual mirrors – a first for a production car – housed in much smaller covers on the front edge of the front windows.

The cameras in the housing display on high-res OLED displays between the dash and door, and come with three adaptable modes for motorways, turning and parking.

It’s a long overdue change to get rid of cumbersome door mirrors, but we did think European regulations still insisted on a physical exterior mirror. Presumably, Audi has found a way round that?