I bet the lack of screens makes it a no-go for a lot of truck drivers. Without a screen, and backup cameras, pickup truck drivers will find it much, much harder to back into parking spots, especially the narrower parking spots in urban parking lots.
There's a niche here given the prevalance of smart phones.
The last tow truck I took a ride on (modern, tilt tray, full lifts, etc) was operated by the driver who happily and easily juggled two phones ... he had one in a cradle, the other hand held, used the cradle one to look up routes, bid for jobs, and general map operations.
At lights or when refueling he was talking on the free phone while cross referencing via text and map searches on the cradle phone.
Additionally the truck console had screens for reversing, etc.
Point being .. we live in a world where it reasonable to have physical control, screen free, relative "dumb" vehicle that still has a diagnostics bus and rear cameras and distance sensors that can accessed via the drivers phone or tablet.
With cable | wifi and auth or some kind the operators smart device can upload music to the cars sound system and the vehicle can return infomation and visuals from sensors .. perhaps.
Yes. A parking camera / screen is a straight up improvement compared to relying on windows and skill.
People who complain about screens are usually not complaining about that but rather about common functionality that used to be a single physical button now is buried deep inside a buggy menu system.
> Yes. A parking camera / screen is a straight up improvement compared to relying on windows and skill.
Car screens and I don't get on. At all. For backing up, what works for me is a full check first and directly viewing while backing up, augmenting with mirrors.
For me, backing up precisely and not running over things are two different skills. I'll check the screen for obstacles, but find it much easier to use windows/mirrors for actually getting into the spot.
This particular truck pictured appears to have a footprint about the size of a Toyota Camry, but with far greater rear visibility due to the additional headroom and no rear seat.
It's much more common to park a truck backed in than a car, in order to load the bed e.g. from a loading ramp or dock. The backup camera is great for lining the bed right up to where you are rolling on the cargo.
You _can_ do it without a camera, but the camera saves a ton of time.
Article mentions backup cam is required now. Still, can't think of a reason I'd back into a space in a parking lot. Don't think I ever have. If I needed to for some reason, I'd lower the tailgate.
> Still, can't think of a reason I'd back into a space in a parking lot.
Safety. Several organizations that have automotive fleets recommend it for that. Pulling in backwards is safer because everybody can see everybody while that is occurring. Pulling out forwards is safer because you have much wider field of view and you have to do less maneuvering.
Liability. If you are pulling out forward and someone doing 50 in the parking lot hits you, you have a much better chance of them being at fault. If you get hit backing up, it is almost always considered your fault irrespective of how stupid the other driver is being.
>Still, can't think of a reason I'd back into a space in a parking lot
I back into spaces almost exclusively. reason: I see that I can do it when I arrive, and realize that exiting forward will be a breeze regardless of the future conditions (you are backing into an empty space, and forwarding into a space with other moving cars that are out of your control).
it's one forward lap and one backward lap, same difference, in addition to which I find steerability/maneuverability is much better with the "steering" wheels in the back, because after you get the forward aligned to enter the slot, you can simply steer away after that.
You can get into a smaller space by reversing in. In the UK there are parking lots where I would never attempt driving in forwards because it would take multiple back-forward movements to achieve it due to the width of the space.
The majority of pickups I see in Denver and NoCo parking spots are backed in. This behavior seemed to come on very suddenly, maybe 3 years ago. I rarely saw it, and then suddenly, 3 out of 4 pickups are backed in. Puzzled me until I realized that a rearview camera with the green/yellow/red markings on the image made all the difference.
