How To Use Tesla Dash Cam

Originally published on EVBite and EVANNEX.
By Denis Gurskiy

Tesla, a company already known for its confusing tech, has ane under-appreciated feature that deserves mention — its built-in dashcam. Using proprietary Autopilot cameras, Tesla owners tin store and record live footage at no boosted cost.

2/ Dashcam: tape and store video from the frontwards-facing camera in your car pic.twitter.com/dm3cy98dVg

— Tesla (@Tesla) October 5, 2018

With this always-running, gratuitous-to-use system, Tesla owners take been able to capture some gnarly accidents, prove insurance fraud, and even help identify hit and run suspects. The Silicon Valley automaker has fifty-fifty added a feature dubbed "Picket Mode" that allows the cameras to continue recording even with the vehicle off. This has led to a cord of arrests as vandals and thieves keep getting caught scarlet-handed equally Tesla's cameras tape their dingy deeds.

The organisation simultaneously records from iii different angles for an optimal unobstructed view of its surroundings. The three cameras, front, right repeater, and left repeater, are simply three of the 8 on-board cameras used to enable Tesla'south Autopilot. That's right — the aforementioned cameras used to record blow footage will (eventually) enable full self-driving in the future.

For the about role, the Tesla dashcam setup is a xxx-second procedure, but there are a few things yous'll need first. A standard USB volition piece of work fine as long every bit it holds a minimum of ane.8 GB of storage. If it'south already formatted to Fat32 or (MS-DOS (Fat) for Macs), yous're ready to move on to the side by side step. If not, bank check out how to re-format downwardly below.

Some people have reported problems formatting their USBs through this method, but thankfully there is an culling. You'll but need one of the many free partition managers out there. We have a video beneath summarizing the process, but nosotros as well have a footstep-by-stride guide underneath if that suits you lot better.

Plug your USB into your estimator, open up upward the software, select your USB from the list of drives connected to your estimator, and select "format division," and yous're set up to move on to the next step.

A pop-upward will display allowing you to choose which format yous'd like. In order to use the Tesla dashcam, you'll need to select Fat32. Just accept and select "Apply" on the tiptop left and y'all're ready to go.

There's no need to toggle anything on or off — as long as you see the red indicator on your vehicle'due south tiptop-right display, the system is running properly. Everything is being recorded and saved as you bulldoze. When your USB runs out of space, the motorcar will automatically delete and overwrite older footage. If you'd like to permanently salvage a clip, just tap that red indicator. That will capture the previous 10 minutes of driving and split it into a new binder.

On the probable chance your USB is formatted properly, all you demand to do is create a new folder and proper name it TeslaCam. Simply plug it into your Tesla'south USB port and yous should encounter a red recording indicator on your brandish. That's it, yous're ready to get. However, if you see an X, your USB is probably not formatted properly.

While reformatting might sound complicated, information technology'southward not. With just five mouse clicks, information technology'due south a two-minute procedure at almost. Most likely you'll be able to format your USB within windows with no problems as illustrated above.

Lookout man Mode is a second feature that allows y'all to employ the same cameras and USB to record while your auto is off. Due to backlog battery drainage that can occur, Sentry Mode does include a toggle switch. To enable, tap the lens icon to the right of the TeslaCam 1. Additionally, you can enable the feature from within the app. Once you get dorsum to your car, the feature volition disable, so you'll accept to re-enable with each apply.

Tesla'due south Sentry Mode is more than just an active camera system. In improver to the camera, the characteristic uses the vehicle's sensors to monitor for suspicious activity. If anyone so much every bit leans on your motorcar, the car's display volition flash a "recording" message, notify you via phone, and save the footage. This has been used in the past (meet below) in order to identify vandals and possible damage to vehicles.

To view the footage, simply disconnect the USB from your car, connect it to a computer, and open up 1 of the video files. They will be organized by engagement for convenience. Both features record in short one-minute intervals. Even when saved, you'll have 10 minutes of footage separated into 10 different files for each of the 3 cameras. This tin be a hassle for those without any sort of editing software, but in that location's an easy option.

Using a web-based teslacam viewer, y'all tin can upload and view all 3 cameras side-past-side in video format. If y'all have any bug with information technology you might need to attempt it out on Microsoft Edge, Safari, or download this Microsoft extension. This is due to the fact that Tesla uses a video encoding format not notwithstanding implemented past other browsers.

An before version of this article appeared on EVBite. EVBite is an electrical vehicle specific news site dedicated to keeping consumers upwards to date on any developments in the always-expanding EV landscape.

Featured prototype: Tesla Model iii by Marika Shahan | CleanTechnica

Appreciate CleanTechnica'due south originality and cleantech news coverage? Consider becoming a CleanTechnica Member, Supporter, Technician, or Ambassador — or a patron on Patreon.

Take a tip for CleanTechnica, want to annunciate, or desire to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact the states hither.