The lack of a physical button to access the camera system has been a common complaint about the all-new, fifth-generation GMC Yukon, which was introduced for the 2021 model year. GM Authority has exclusively learned that General Motors will address the issue for the 2022 GMC Yukon and Yukon XL by adding a new dedicated physical button that enables the vehicle’s camera features.
Currently, the only way to enable the camera system is to touch the “Camera” soft button on the Yukon’s infotainment screen. That’s convenient if the infotainment system is showing the Home Screen and is also on the right page of the Home Screen that contains the Camera soft button. But oftentimes there’s a navigation map showing the route, a screen showing the music details, or some other function of the vehicle’s infotainment system that makes accessing the Yukon’s impressive 360-degree camera feature cumbersome.
The new dedicated physical button on the 2022 GMC Yukon will enable drivers to quickly enable the camera system, including the current Surround Vision Camera, which is particularly useful while parking. The button new camera button will be located in the panel to the left of the steering wheel where the engine auto start/stop disable, parking assist, and Lane Keep Assist buttons are located.
Surround Vision Camera, also known as the 360-degree camera, is a GM active safety technology that provides the driver with an overhead or “bird’s eye” view of the environment around their vehicle to assist in parking and avoid hitting nearby objects during low-speed maneuvering. By supplementing the driver’s direct vision and mirrors, Surround Vision is helpful in showing typical blind spots, pavement markings, other vehicles, curbs, and other surroundings.
Surround Vision displays an overhead video image of the vehicle on the center stack display using four cameras:
- Rear Vision Camera
- Forward-looking camera in front grill/emblem area
- Two side-looking camera mounted on each side mirror
It’s worth noting that in some cases, objects near the corners of the vehicle may not be displayed on the Surround Vision Camera.
Introduced for the 2021 model year, the all-new the fifth generation GMC Yukon represented a complete overhaul (re-engineering and redesign) of GMC‘s flagship SUV, headlined by an all-new and more upscale Denali and the first-ever Yukon AT4 that takes the Yukon into the premium off-road space.
Besides the new physical camera button, the 2022 GMC Yukon will also feature a few minor updates and changes. One of these will be the new Denali Performance Black Package, which GM Authority was first to report on.
We’ll have more details on the 2022 GMC Yukon in the near future, so be sure to subscribe to GM Authority for ongoing GMC Yukon news, GMC news, and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
Would love for gm to add a convenience key, say behind the steering wheel that you could map to something in the infotainment. Could be as simple as a preset station and volume #. Or navigation or this camera. Anything you want. What frustrates me with the legacy automakers is their lack of embracing tech to enable customization by the user. For example, if you buy a new gm, their should be a user profile that you can put into the new car and all of your prior settings are set up, just like your phone.
I agree on the universal button idea. However, you’ll be happy to know they do offer the ability to port your profile and related settings to any other GM vehicle via your email.
How come you can get different colored interiors in the SUV’s but we’re stuck with crappy black in the trucks?
Wow gm is so innovating and cutting edge
I’ll assume that the 2022 Suburban, Tahoe, and Escalade will also be getting physical buttons for the camera systems as well. Glad to see General Motors fixing some minor issues with the first model year SUVs. Addressing minor issues in a vehicle cabin makes a big difference in the interior experience.
Hardly “first model year”. This has been a glaring HMI oversight since the first 360 camera equipped vehicles in 2016. Cameras became mandatory in 2018, so they didn’t need to have button-less consoles.
And they didn’t even need the physical button, they could have easily solved it with a softkey. For whatever dumb reason, they decided climate control was more important in Infotainment 3, despite the fact that every GM vehicle has climate hard controls.
You are right Sam – a soft-key with an anchored icon on the bottom (like the music, phone and climate) would help a lot…it would also allow your existing customers to enjoy the needed feature.
How about a “sunroof open” warning when leaving the vehicle? I left mine open by mistake and it rained.
I’ve learned lately the big difference between tesla and the oems is how they deal with technology. Tesla integrates all tech into their own chips, the oems just put together supplier provided tech. That’s why you have little annoying issues like this. The sunroof is its own system, not connected to the startup on/off. To do that, they need to connect everything together.
Kudos cam views are incredible helpful parking & backup in this monster
Quick access to cam is black home button, then cam button -quick two step
What I hate is the 8 second timeout while driving. (WTF is the 8 second limit for?)
What I would love is to have the mirror cam view on the main display….
(I find the view, a great full time aid in heavy traffic.)
The bumber cam is too low. (makes me dizzy at speed)
The mirror cam is too small. ( and difficult for those of us with bifocal). It should be in the main display.
The 8 second limit is required by federal regulation because it was found in tests that the backwards view distracts and disorients the driver at speed. The field of view of the backup camera is also set by law as to ensure you’re not going to run over anyone.
So in essence you just showed why there’s an 8 second limit. They have to make it wide to replace your eyes (humans have a very large lateral, field of view since we have two eyes horizontally), and that view makes you dizzy.
Would be nice if the push of the camera button had a “record” ability. Having the button able to save the last 5 minutes of camera video and keep saving until pushed again or a set time limit would be great. No dash-cam on the market has as many views as the fitted system. That would be merely one more safety feature of the GMC Yukon line.
I would like for the camera to automatically go on when parking. It currently goes on when you’re with in 12 inches of something, but in a vehicle like this that feels really, really close to something. It should go on as soon as they parking distance sensors start to alert you.