TL;DR
A 360° surround view system, also called an around view monitor (AVM), combines the feeds from four or more wide-angle cameras mounted on the front, rear and sides of a vehicle, then digitally stitches and corrects them into a single top-down bird's-eye image that shows the driver everything around the vehicle in real time.
Parking and manoeuvring a large vehicle means judging clearances the driver cannot actually see. A 360° surround view system removes the guesswork by giving one continuous image of everything around the vehicle from above.
How to picture the bird’s-eye view
The name “bird’s-eye view” is literal: the system presents the scene as if a camera were hovering directly overhead. No single camera can produce that image, so the system builds it from several.
- Capture. Four or more ultra-wide fisheye cameras cover the front, rear and both sides, with fields of view that overlap at the corners.
- Correct. Each fisheye image is heavily distorted at the edges, so the processor de-warps it back to a flat perspective.
- Stitch. The corrected images are merged along their overlaps and re-projected into a single top-down composite, blended so the seams are hard to see.
- Display. The stitched bird’s-eye view is shown next to a live directional camera, so the driver sees both the whole-vehicle overview and the direction of travel.
The main parts of an AVM system
- Wide-angle cameras with fisheye lenses, one per covered side.
- A processing unit that performs de-warping, stitching and blending in real time.
- A calibration profile matched to the specific vehicle’s dimensions and camera positions.
- A display in the cab, often shared with the reversing or BSD feed.
Calibration is what separates a usable AVM system from a distorted one. On a bus or excavator the camera geometry differs greatly from a car, so the stitching parameters must be tuned to that vehicle.
Benefits of 360 surround view
- Eliminated blind zones around the full perimeter, protecting pedestrians and property during low-speed manoeuvres.
- Easier tight-space handling for parking, loading bays and construction sites.
- Fewer minor collisions, which are frequent and costly on commercial fleets even when no one is hurt.
- A single glance replaces cross-checking several mirrors and cameras.
Where AVM systems are used
Around view monitors started on passenger cars but are now common on buses, delivery trucks, forklifts and excavators, exactly the vehicles with the largest blind zones. For these vehicles the camera count rises and the calibration matters more. YUNTOR builds multi-channel AVM systems on self-developed hardware and calibrates them for large-vehicle geometry so the stitched view stays accurate where it counts.
Quick reference: AVM configurations by vehicle type
| Vehicle type | Typical cameras | Camera field of view | Common display |
|---|---|---|---|
| Van / light truck | 4 channels | 180° fisheye | 7-inch monitor |
| Bus / coach | 4 to 6 channels | 180° fisheye | 10.1-inch monitor |
| Heavy truck | 6 channels | 180° fisheye | 10.1-inch monitor |
| Excavator / forklift | 4 to 6 channels | 180° fisheye | 7 to 10.1-inch monitor |
Figures are typical commercial configurations; the exact channel count and display size are matched to each vehicle during calibration.
Looking for 360° avm systems?
YUNTOR 360° AVM (Around View Monitor) systems stitch four to six fisheye channels into a seamless bird’s-eye view, eliminating blind zones around commercial vehicles. As a source factory with self-developed boards, we match host, display and camera configurations to your fleet from low MOQ.