Hello people, my family recently bought a Renault 5 e-tech. The car itself is great, but there are some aspects that creep me out, especially the driver-facing camera. We didn’t actually know that such a camera existed before we bought the car, it was only mentioned as the car was given to us.
The cameras official purpose is to see, if you are tired and paying attention to the road, by some “AI magic”, I suppose. You can also let it scan your face, so that you automatically get logged into your profile.
I personally think, that that is kinda creepy, especially as there is no visual indication if the camera is currently recording and no official way to disable the camera hardware-wise. When it is being coverd, the car immediately complains about it.
When talking to friends or family about it, I got one of two reactions: equal concern, or “nice feature actually”, “what about the camera on your laptop?”, “you are way too paranoid”, “I have noting to hide; it is only me driving being recorded”.
I have also seen such cameras in other cars, BYD for example.
What do you think, is this creepy or am I too paranoid? Does anyone know where the actual data is processed, on device or on some cloud server? Do you have any experience with such cameras? I couldn’t really find any information about it on the internet.
Loyal Moses has a vid on these cameras re Ford patenting tech that won’t let you start the car if your mood is deemed incompatible with driving.
Whatever the case re drive ability, 100% your insurance company will have this data.
Does the car stop complaining if you cover it or is it a constant ear assault? Can you start the car if it’s covered? Is there a workaround to disable it?
ETA: what’s weird is that your parents aren’t aware that most people cover laptop cameras. I’m parent aged, and I do. Many laptops come equipped with a slider device to cover it.
Most people do not cover laptop cameras, but many do.
It was integrated into my last two cases. Maybe it’s a Lenovo thing.
System 76 came in a shitty, basic case. Feels almost fragile after Lenovo. And no slider. (I like the computer guts, but for that price the case shouldn’t feel like you could break something by simply lifting it while open.)
that was my experience w system76 as well; mac price tag w clevo build quality. only its support make it worthwhile.
For that price they can give it a durable case. It feels like driving around with car bumpers made of glass.
I only tried to cover it for a short time, as my parents are really opposed to the idea of covering it. Maybe I’ll design and 3d print a removable cover. I think the laptop camera argument was a little short-sighted; I also pointed that out to them 😅
The laptop I have now has its own camera cover, but when I had a laptop that didn’t have it, I was able to buy little slider stickers to put over it. I don’t want to link any particular website, but if you look up “laptop camera slider sticker” you can easily find them.
I fold paper over the front, or put electrical tape. don’t need or want the thing.
Hell, that would motivate me to design a whole new plastic cover for the a pillar and remove the cameras entirely.