Can we use rear view camera or backup camera on driving test ?

Backup cameras ( rear view cameras ) have become standard features in cars, almost 90% of car you can see running in the street have equipped with the rear view camera system, the rear view cameras usually mounted on the rear part or side part of a car, and a lcd monitor mounted on the dashboard or mirror monitor replaced with original rear view mirror. And according to US law, car manufacturer are required to install backup cameras in all new vehicles from 2018. So there comes this question, can we use rear view camera or backup camera on driving test ?

What is the purpose of driving test ?

The whole purpose of giving a license test is testingyour ability to keep others and yourself safe on the road using basic functionality of a vehicle. Especially, through the parallel parking test, the examiners can determine whether a new driver has the necessary vehicle control and hand-eye coordination before they go on the open roadway, and then they decide whether or not give him a driving license.

Actually, there is no law forbidden usage of rear view cameras during driving test, most time it depends on the examiner. However, most examiners would not allow you to use rear view cameras during parallel parking, they would cover the rear view camera with paper or tapes. In my opinion, we can use rear view cameras, but we should not wholly reply on rear view cameras. As you can see from the first paragraph, not all vehicles equipped with rear view cameras, there maybe times we need to borrowing other’s vehicle that may not have a rear view camera; and some times rear view camera may fails. I know parallel parking maybe a bit hard for new driver, but as long as you are careful and take more practice, you can master it quickly.