Since 2018, all cars manufactured in the U.S. are required to have backup cameras. The first production car with a backup camera was the Toyota Soarer, which debuted in 1991. It wasn’t, however, the first car with a backup camera. Buick actually pioneered it on the Buick Centurion concept car in 1956. Developed for the 1956 General motors Motorama, the Buick Centurion debuted an impressive number of features back in the day. It had bucket seats before they became a standard feature, it incorporated many aviation-inspired cues in the cabin, and it boasted the largest, completely transparent bubble roof. The wing-type fenders and the two-tone paint are only two of the features that trickled into production models from Chevrolet and Buick. It was, however, the rear-view camera that set it apart. It consisted of a television camera mounted atop the V-shaped trunk and a small TV in an oval-shaped section in the center of the sleek dashboard. Unfortunately, the idea didn’t catch on, and it would be another 20 years before a production car with a rear-view camera became available.
