Tesla wants to replace side-view mirrors with cameras

Tesla Motors is known to be ahead of the technology curve and now wants to replace side-view mirrors with cameras on its cars. The car maker wants to replace the traditional mirrors with high-tech cameras that will improve a vehicle's aerodynamic performance and fuel efficiency. Tesla's push comes a week after a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ruling requiring rear-view cameras in cars weighing less than 10,000 pounds by May 2018. Tesla joined the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers in filing a petition seeking the necessary approval required to allow the use of such cameras. "Automakers already provide rearview cameras … as a standard or optional feature on two-thirds of the nation's 50 top-selling vehicles," the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers said in a statement. The rear-view camera issue has been two years in the making. The focus of installing such cameras is family safety. The NHTSA says there are an average of 210 deaths and 15,000 injuries a year caused by drivers backing over people behind their cars, and 31 percent of these injuries affect children five years and younger.