Getting in and out of a tight spot

Struggling to squeeze into a tight parking space ranks right up there with holiday mall traffic on the driver irritation list. The beeping front and rear proximity sensors on many cars' backup sensors can help, but they still leave you feeling like you're parking with blinders on. Lexus, of course, addressed the situation with its self-parking LS. But we found that to be a limited success; it's not ideal for tight spots, it can be hit or miss in the best of situations, and often by the time you've lined everything up enough for the system to be happy, you could have already parked manually and been done with it.

At the LA Auto Show, I got my first close-up look at Infiniti's new Around View Monitor (AVM) system, which is optional on the new EX35, and could make the task of tight parking a lot more manageable.

The AVM system is a 360-degree exterior camera that allows a driver to see all sides of the vehicle at one time. It uses four cameras: one under each side mirror and one each on the front and rear. The images are arranged on the in-dash display so that the driver gets a top-down view of the car. This allows you to see the area around both bumpers and both sides of the vehicle. In other words, you can visually monitor how close you are to other cars and miscellaneous dent-inducing objects, while also making sure that your passenger doesn't have to step into a puddle on the way out.

Unlike conventional rear backup camera systems, the AVM can be used in any gear and stays on up to a vehicle speed of 6 mph.

I can also see security uses for this system. For instance, the EX35 just wouldn't work well in a horror movie, because occupants could too easily watch every move as Jason or whatever creature tried to creep up to the car from the dark woods nearby. So much for suspense.

The AVM system is coupled with a standard rear backup camera that provides an extended view rearward. And, according to an Infiniti representative, it comes on instantly when a driver shifts into reverse rather than first flashing logos and assorted graphics, as some competitors' systems do, that make the driver wait to see what's behind.

—Rik Paul