FMCSA says okay to truckers using cameras instead of rear-view mirrors

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) approved a petition that will allow motor carriers to operate with certain video camera technology in place of rear-view mirrors.

On February 2, 2024, the FMCSA announced that a petition for a regulation exemption filed by Michigan-based electronics company Stoneridge, Inc. has been renewed, allowing truckers operating with the company’s MirrorEye^® Camera Monitor System (CMS) to use that technology in place of rear-view mirrors.

In 2019, Stoneridge received a five-year exemption from Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) requiring CMVs be equipped with two rear-vision mirrors.

This is a renewal of that exemption that will also be valid for five years.

In the original petition for exemption, Stoneridge told the FMCSA that the MirrorEye camera system would provide truck drivers with a greater field of view and the elimination of blind spots, cutting down on driver fatigue by requiring less head movement than traditional mirrors. Stoneridge also said that trucks equipped with the MirrorEye cameras would get better fuel economy than trucks with rear-view mirrors because their system was more aerodynamic.

Stoneridge says that since 2019, the MirrorEye system has been installed on over 1000 vehicles in North America, “logging over an estimated 100 million miles with no reported incidents caused by the system.”

The company also told FMCSA that “a leading fleet” found a 65% reduction in accident costs across 24 million miles driven with the MirrorEye system compared to 134 million miles driven without the system.

The FMCSA ultimately declared that renewing the rear-view mirror exemption for another five years “would likely maintain a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety achieved without the exemption.”

Check out the video below for more on how the MirrorEye system works.