A second pair of eyes: all new kia Sorento eliminates driver blind spots

Kia has revealed details of the cutting-edge Blind-Spot View Monitor (BVM) technology included with the all-new Kia Sorento SUV.

This ‘second pair of eyes' for drivers is designed to enhance safety for Sorento occupants and other road users by eliminating a driver's left- and right-side blind spots.

The Sorento is the first Kia vehicle in Europe to offer this advanced driving assistance feature, one of a range of functions enabled by the car's new fully-digital ‘Supervision' 12.3-inch instrument cluster. BVM enhances drivers' vision either side of the car when driving on the road, and is linked with the car's turn signal.

It displays a high-resolution video feed on the left or right side of the TFT-LCD instrument cluster if the driver indicates to change lane with another vehicle hidden in their blind spot. The video of the blind spot briefly takes the place of either the speedometer or tachometer dial display (or the hybrid system gauge in Sorento Hybrid models), while still showing the driver the vehicle's current speed. The video feed comes from discreet wide-angle, high-resolution cameras, one hidden in each of the door mirror housings. These provide a wider viewing angle than the mirrors themselves to give drivers a clear view of the other vehicle.

Kia's BVM technology is offered to European Sorento buyers as part of a package which includes a Surround View Monitor and Parking Collision-Avoidance Assist (PCA), making low-speed parking manoeuvres as safe and easy as possible, as well as a Bose Performance Series audio system. This package of technologies is available on European vehicles equipped with Kia's Blind-Spot Collision-Avoidance Assist (BCA) function. BCA helps drivers avoid colliding with vehicles in their blind spot and intervenes if it detects an impending crash.

A fully-digital instrument cluster
Kia's ‘Supervision' digital instrument cluster is designed to deliver information to drivers as clearly as possible. With a high-definition 1920×720-pixel display, the digital cluster replaces conventional speedometer and tachometer dials with a single, seamless display, incorporating pin-sharp digital dials for vehicle and engine speeds.

A multi-function display between the dials displays turn-by-turn navigation instructions, audio information, and in-depth trip information, as well as vehicle diagnostics alerts, and pop-up notifications linked to the car's various active safety and driver assist technologies.

UK specification, on-sale date and pricing will be announced in due course.