From the moment of its launch, the Tesla Model 3 has had a total of eight cameras on its exterior. These are used for both the Autopilot, the Sentry Mode (a smart alarm), and TeslaCam (Tesla dashcam) functions. However, many users have noticed that the vehicle also incorporates a ninth camera in the interior rearview mirror which has been disabled for all these years.
Elon Musk recently revealed that soon this camera will be used in the brand’s robotaxis service. Its function will be to monitor the car’s interior to prevent users from destroying the interior of the vehicle. The recordings of the interior camera will be wide-angle, allowing a fairly complete view of the interior of the car.
Musk also confirmed that he was studying new functions for the camera. Recordings to accompany the Karaoke function, an evolution of the current Sentry Mode, and even a recognition system that the company patented some time ago that will allow to intelligently apply a series of personalized configurations for the driver and passengers (position of the steering wheel, the seat and the rearview mirrors, climate temperature, music, etc.).
Now, Musk has announced on Twitter that in the future, the vehicle’s interior camera and screen will serve to offer a video conferencing system. In his words, “the hardware is there”, although he has not given a specific date for the arrival of this interesting function in his cars. Nor has it been revealed if these video conferences can be held with the car in motion, something that may not be legal under current legislation.
However, we must not lose sight of the fact that just a few days ago the manager stated that he was interested in incorporating augmented reality video games that could be used in their vehicles “safely” while driving. This leads us to think that Musk’s idea would be to offer a video conferencing system capable of operating when their vehicles are circulating with Autopilot activated.