Safety Vision asked FMCSA to let camera systems replace truck mirrors for five years
A petition docketed on October 13 seeks the full five-year exemption from the federal rear-vision mirror rule so a camera monitor system can be fitted in place of exterior mirrors.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration docketed a petition on October 13 in which Safety Vision, a Houston supplier, asked to be allowed to fit its View Smart camera monitor system on commercial motor vehicles in place of exterior mirrors. The letter itself was dated July 23, 2026, addressed to Administrator Derek D. Barrs and signed by chief operating officer Nima Ostad.
The petition seeks an exemption from 49 C.F.R. § 393.80(a), the rear vision mirror requirement. Because that rule points to FMVSS 111, which requires outside mirrors of unit magnification with at least 323 square centimeters of reflective surface, the company said a system of cameras is currently precluded from being used on its own as an alternative rear vision system. Safety Vision requested the full five-year term available under the regulation, and applied the request to every vehicle meeting the federal definition of a commercial motor vehicle — more than 8.3 million registered in the United States, by its own count.
The filing cited the agency’s 2019 decision granting Stoneridge an exemption as precedent. It described two dual-lens cameras, one per side, covering the Class II and Class IV fields of view and shown together on a 12.3-inch 1080p display, with recording to a removable card, and an inline fuse and a reboot at each ignition cycle so that activation is not left to the operator.