Version 4.5
21 November, Tuesday
3:30 pm
Camera Suite Profile
(Vehicle Equipped Camera Suite) Tesla HW4
Issues with people/objects who drive and ride in camera suite equipped vehicles or other assets and the people outside their vehicles who might be recorded by the vehicles outward-facing cameras (for the record, all vehicles with outward facing cameras.
Many applications: critical emergency, security weather and unlimited purposes for camera suites:
Executive Protection
Surveillance, counter-surveillance
Critical emergency situations
National Security
Many others
Tesla vehicles equipped camera suite: record driving incidents or other notable events, it’s criticaly important to have pre-planned procals that are beneficial to determined priority party, prior to “Driving Incidents or other Notable Events” supportive decisioning is planned.
Planning to have controlled content by lawyers, under private attorney-client privilege status. Content handled under the regulations, laws applicable determined by legal representatives.
When “Driving Incidents or other Notable Events” it’s likely non-legal individuals to be instructed to say and do nothing. Legal representatives handle everything, exspecialy video recordings. Unlimited geographic legal resources and immediate representation is planned. Individuals, say nothing, do nothing without legal permission. Individuals to always be polite and courteous with law enforcement and all others. Compliance determined by independent legal representatives.
Route planning, route surveillance, advance surveillance.
Mobile Cameras
Augmenting Tesla cameras with High-resolution (Red 8k Mini and others) mounted on vehicles (Cybertruck rack possiblly) in truckbed mounted on other Assets (Rovers, recreational vehicles, tethered drones, etc.
Spare hardware 4 port possible? Used for additional camera TBD.
Advancements of mobile camera technology systems, now enabling video advanced surveillance.
Low-profile plans could include “Wrapping” vehicles with different colors for changing and blending into local environment.
Lights: headlights and interior consule lights turning on and off when in Sentry Mode on Tesla might need consideration.
Autopilot features for parking
Tesla mobile app data, Autopilot data (which they define as “Vehicle equipped camera suite that provides advanced features such as Autopilot, Smart Summon, and Autopark. Planning to potentially offer many unique value-added suggestions, training and potentially personalized pre-programs.
Military and law enforcement
It’s not intended or planned to provide military branches and law enforcement agencies camera Suite technology other than some coaching.
Disclaimer
Information is subject to change without notice and it’s not to be relied upon for important decision making. The information is general purpose background research for guidance.
Forward looking statement
The information provided contains a significant amount of forward-looking statements that may or may not happen in the future.
Open-source & non-proprietary
All the information is open-source and non-proprietary it can be used by anyone, at any time, for useful purposes.
Notes:
HW4 Cameras
Surveillance HW4
Advanced mobile surveillance profile.
“Vehicle equipped camera suite” — (Tesla nomenclature)
Tesla’s new energy vehicles (electric vehicles –EVs) are all now equipped with advanced Camera Systems.
Scale of video footage is tremendous. Now all Tesla’s vehicles have Hardware 4 computers. All Tesla’s have advanced cameras. All ready over one million advanced surveillance Tesla vehicles are on the road and parked with advanced surveillance capabilities.
2024 reporting indicates that Tesla will deliver over two million (2M) vehicles. Potentially, near the end of 2024 over three million (3M) Tesla advanced vehicles equipment camera suiites. could be used for surveillance. In-motion and Motionless 24/7/365 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year surveillance capabilities, all over the world.
Multiple cameras on vehicle equipped camera suite potentially offer many different live and recorded video.
One camera video visual sharing on Application (Tesla App) remotely is reported. Selection on view to be determined depending on the priority.
It’s planned for third-party video sharing and recording. Acting as content Agent in behalf of others. The plan includes acting in behalf of a Attorneys, potentially providing legitimate legal protection, as attorney client work product. Legal considerations are planned, for the maximum protection of all parties, at all times.
Vehicle Equipped Camera Suite by Tesla using Hardware 4 (HW4) reported to operate differently depending on the vehicle activity. In-motion, with or without driver behind the wheel and stationary (Parked) appears to be significantly different for the camera suite system. Live and recorded content (videos), no audio recording is reported.
Protocols to be determined, developed and deployed for optimal camera suite usage, personalized.
Millions of camera suite equipped vehicles can offer significant benefits.
What3Words third-party Application is possiblly vertically integrated into planning. What3Words has free address approximately 10 ft x 10 ft squares for the entire world including land and water 57 Trillion squares are reported with unique individual addresses simply accessible by anyone. Planned square, one to many, including continuous series of squares for miles, is planned.
Low-profile surveillance capabilities with 360° views for short distances around the vehicle capabilities. Blending into the nature environment, moving with other vehicles on the road and parked, provides low-profile surveillance. Advanced security protection fixed and mobile enabled with new capabilities. Video situational awareness presents new benefits and threats.
It’s imperative to have a comprehensive understanding of new advanced technologies.
Camera upgrades include higher-resolution, and my more features and benefits.
Privacy concerns continue to be increasingly scary, for vehicle owners and non-vehicle owners, pedestrians in and around vehicle.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) significantly impacts everything. It all starts with massive data with computing power.
It’s a mind boggling subject.
Pending more
Live Cam
Research
Protecting and respecting the privacy of people who drive and ride in their cars and the people outside their cars who might be recorded by the cars outward-facing cameras (for the record, all cars with outward facing cameras are a privacy concern, no matter who makes them, not just Tesla).
In April, 2023, Reuters reported stories from a number of former Tesla employees that videos taken from cameras in Tesla’s were regularly shared over internal chat systems within the company.
The content shared included videos of children, nudity, sensitive personal possessions and more. The claims were so egregious that US lawmakers demand answers from Tesla on what was going on and what they were doing to stop this privacy-violating behavior.The report was also followed by a class-action lawsuit from a Tesla driver for violating their privacy. This all came on the heels of US consumer watchdog Consumer Reports raising concerns about Tesla’s use of cameras in their cars back in 2021.
Tesla’s privacy notice (abstract/sub-section):
Tesla’s full privacy notice says they can collect a good amount of data on you. Everything from your name, address, email, to lots of data about your car and your use of your car, when and where you charge your car, infotainment system data, Tesla mobile app data, Autopilot data (which they define as “Vehicle equipped camera suite that provides advanced features such as Autopilot, Smart Summon, and Autopark”).
There is some good here. Tesla does say that some of this data — things like your phone contacts and messages, dashcam video, and sentry mode data from external sensors and cameras — is processed locally on the car and not shared with Tesla.
However, note that cabin camera videos (those are the cameras pointed at your face), can be shared with Tesla if you enable data sharing.
Tesla makes other promises in their privacy that sound quite good. They say they won’t share your personal information with third parties for their own use unless you opt-in (don’t opt-in!).
They say they don’t “associate the vehicle data generated by your driving with your identity or account by default.” They say they your location data is “either processed directly without leaving your vehicle, is in a form that does not personally identify you, or remains inaccessible to Tesla.” These things are all good.
However, they also say in their privacy policy, “Tesla vehicles are equipped with a camera suite designed from the ground up to protect your privacy while providing advanced features such as Autopilot, Smart Summon, and Autopark.” And we know it has been reported that images and videos from Tesla’s were being shared by employees internally with little regard for privacy, so we worry that Tesla doesn’t always honor all the privacy promises they make.
Tesla Content:
Vehicle Equipped Camera Suite operates in two (2) completely distinctly and dramatic different modes. First mode is Dashcam when the vehicle is in-motion. The second is in Sentry mode when the vehicle is not in motion, Parked. These are very important different modes with completely different functionality and settings.
Dashcam Tesla Content:
Depending on market region, vehicle configuration, options purchased, and software version, your vehicle may not be equipped with Dashcam or the features may not operate exactly as described. It is your sole responsibility to consult and comply with all local regulations and property restrictions regarding the use of cameras.
Dashcam records video footage of your vehicle’s surroundings when driving Model 3.
Use Dashcam to record driving incidents or other notable events, like you would for an external dashcam on other vehicles.
The Dashcam icon is located in the app launcher. You can add the Dashcam app to the bottom bar for easy access (see Customizing My Apps). When Model 3 is in Park, touching the Dashcam icon displays the Viewer (see Viewing Video Recordings).
To protect your privacy, video recordings are saved locally to a formatted USB flash drive’s onboard memory.
Recordings are not sent to Tesla. Model 3 does not record videos when Dashcam is Off.
Sentry Mode
Depending on market region, vehicle configuration, options purchased, and software version, your vehicle may not be equipped with Sentry Mode or the features may not operate exactly as described.
It is your sole responsibility to consult and comply with all local regulations and property restrictions regarding the use of cameras.
When enabled, your vehicle’s cameras and sensors (if equipped) remain powered on and ready to record suspicious activity around your vehicle when Model 3 is locked and in Park.
Think of Sentry Mode as an intelligent vehicle security system that alerts you when it detects possible threats nearby.
If a threat is detected, Sentry Mode pulses the headlights, sounds the alarm, and displays a message on the touchscreen indicating that the cameras may be recording to inform individuals outside of the vehicle. You will receive an alert on your phone through the mobile app and footage of the event is saved to USB drive (if installed).
Sentry Mode is disabled by default. You can use voice commands or the Tesla mobile app to easily enable or disable Sentry Mode.
To enable Sentry Mode using voice commands, say “Keep Tesla safe,” “Keep my car safe,” “Sentry on,” or “Enable Sentry” (see Voice Commands).
For some vehicles manufactured after approximately November 1, 2021, the center console USB ports may only support charging devices. Use the USB port inside the glove box for all other functions.
Sentry Mode requires your Battery to be at least 20% charged. If the Battery falls below 20%, Sentry Mode turns off and the mobile app sends you a notification. Power consumption may increase when Sentry Mode is active.
When Sentry Mode is enabled, the Security Alarm settings (Controls > Safety > Security Alarm) are not available.
Do not rely on Sentry Mode to protect Model 3 from all possible security threats. Sentry Mode uses many factors to determine whether to activate the security alarm. All impacts may not be detected and the alarm may not activate in all situations. While it may help deter some threats, no security system can prevent all attacks.
How to Use Sentry Mode (Camera + App)
Sentry Mode requires a properly formatted USB drive inserted in your vehicle’s USB port (Tesla recommends using the glovebox USB port, if equipped) to store and retrieve footage.
Vehicles manufactured from approximately 2020 are equipped with a pre-formatted USB drive in the glove box. There are two ways to format the USB drive:
Insert the USB drive into the USB port and navigate to Controls > Safety > Format USB Drive. Your vehicle automatically formats the USB drive for you.
Format the USB drive on a computer
See USB Drive Requirements for Recording Videos for more information.
Insert the USB drive into the vehicle’s USB port.
With your vehicle in Park, enable Dashcam by navigating to Controls > Safety > Dashcam.
Touch Controls > Safety > Sentry Mode > On. Once enabled, the Sentry Mode icon in the Controls tab turns red.
Rear camera recordings are available only on vehicles manufactured after approximately February 2018.
When enabled, Sentry Mode is idle, ready to sound the alarm and save a recording of the security event if triggered. See Viewing Video Recordings for information on viewing footage.
To silence the security alarm and audio system when the alarm is triggered, navigate to Controls > Safety > Disable Sentry Sounds. When enabled, Sentry Mode still sends a notification through the mobile app and saves the last 10 minutes footage.
To manually enable/disable Sentry Mode until the next drive, touch the Sentry Mode icon in Controls. Sentry Mode is Off when the icon is no longer red.
Circle within a circle
Turn Sentry Mode Off in Controls > Safety > Sentry Mode to disable for more than one drive cycle.
How to Use Sentry Mode (App Only)
When Sentry mode is enabled and a security event is detected but without a USB drive plugged into a USB port, your vehicle alerts you through the mobile app, without any camera recordings.
Sentry Mode Settings
Exclude specific locations
In Controls > Safety > Sentry Mode, you can determine if you want Sentry Mode to not enable in certain locations (see Home, Work, and Favorite Destinations for more information):
Exclude Home: Sentry Mode does not automatically enable at the location set as Home in your Favorites list.
Exclude Work: Sentry Mode does not automatically enable at the location set as Work in your Favorites list.
Exclude Favorites: Sentry Mode does not automatically enable at any location in your Favorites list.
To recognize a location listed as Home, Work, or a Favorite, Model 3 must be parked within approximately 1,640 feet (500 meters) of the saved location.
To set up your Home or Work location, touch Navigate > Set Home/Set Work. To set up a Favorite, touch the star when viewing an address on the map. Manually turning Sentry Mode on or off using the touchscreen or the mobile app overrides your Home, Work, or Fa
Background
Sentry’s Live Cam
In late October 2021, Tesla released an update that added Live Cam to Sentry Mode.
With Live Cam, you can stream the car’s live video footage to your phone via the Tesla app — one camera at a time — effectively turning the vehicle into a mobile surveillance solution.
Live Cam offers views of the car’s front, sides, and back. In mid-Decmeber 2022, Tesla added access to the car’s inside cam below the review mirror.
Other than viewing live images, Sentry’s Live Cam feature allows you to honk (or make fart sounds — a practical joke built-in all Tesla), flash the headlights, or even broadcast a voice message to the car’s outside speakers from wherever you’re in the world. It’s the ultimate “hey, I see you” add-on feature.