Factory fit dash cams

[wolfracesonic]

Do you think we'll such a state of paranoia that manufacturers will start to offer dash cams as a factory fit option? Maybe first in somewhere like Russia, they seem to like them, though after only recently emerging from a virtual police state since the twenties you would have thought they would have shied away from any sort of surveillance( or maybe they're inured to it). What do you think, and would you tick that box on the options list?

[itz_baseline]

I was thinking this the other day. I think if the factory offered these they would be much like sat navs....i.e. £1,500 for something you can buy yourself for under £100. They would no doubt look neater though and better integrated than just another item to stick to dash/windscreen.

I will let the person speccing the car in the first place to take the big cost hit....before buying it later.

[mrmr96]

Given that the % of people who use them globally is minute, I'd say: Not for the forseeable future.

However, rather than manufacturer fit we might start seeing insurance policies which would want one, in a similar vein to those "black box" policies which record you driving habits/style they might offer a reduced premium if you have their approved dash cam fitted. It would probably be an add on to the black box which already records GPS info, and might also read in engine/OBD2 info if they thought it was useful.

So basically, from manufactures: No.
From insurers: Yes.

Some manufacturers might start introducing them if the insurance thing gains traction. (Is it possible to buy some small cars prewired for insurance black boxes yet?)

[MaximumJed]

I don't see why not, the new Corvette can (or will) be able to be specced with video recording which overlays performance data and lap times. It utilises the existing cameras which are used for safety systems (lane departure warning in this case I think), with an additional high speed GPS unit.

Based on that, and the fact a lot of mid-high end cars now come with cameras built in even if you can't normally access the feed, it wouldn't be a big stretch for a manufacturer to add it as an additional function. It's just an extra bit of storage, some software for your iDrive or whatever and the ability to write it out to a USB stick.

Link: http://www.roadandtrack.com/go/news/2015-chevrolet...