of a left image portion 44 a right image portion 46 and a center image portion 48 each image portion 44 48 is reversed from the image as captured by the respective image capture device 14 16 utilizing conventional techniques these techniques include reading the image in reverse with the image capture device writing the image in reverse to display device 20 or reversing the image in image processor 18 left image portion 44 is joined with central image portion 48 at a boundary 50 central image portion 48 is joined with right image portion 46 at a boundary 52 as may best be seen in fig3 the image portions at boundaries 50 and 52 are continuous whereby composite image 42 is a seamless panoramic view rearwardly of the vehicle as also is apparent from fig3 central image portion 48 is narrower than either left image portion 44 or right image portion 46 this is a result of reducing the horizontal field of view 26 of center image capture device 16 sufficiently to move points p and thus overlap zones 32 and 34 a sufficient distance behind vehicle 10 to reduce redundant and duplicative images between image portions 44 48 composite image 42 provides a clear image which avoids confusion and simplifies the task of extracting information from the multiple image.