this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2026
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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.

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[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I do not support creepy driver facing cameras at all (my car has one, I cover it 100% of the time), but in the case of rear ending someone, it's pretty much always your fault regardless of what happened. Maybe not the best example πŸ˜…

[–] WraithGear@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

operating a vehicle runs on the assumption that the cars around you are operated in the realm of sanity. with acceptable human reaction the trained standard is a car distance of 3 seconds back. but that assumption is unblinking focus, which is not true in many cases. if you are preparing for a lane shift your attention is demanded by law elsewhere. break checking, or slamming unnecessarily on the break, does not defer guilt to the victim. the problem is that it’s hard to prove, unless you have a front facing camera which is a defensive measure. there is no defensive measure for an inward facing camera

[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

I'm afraid you're mistaken here.

Outside of brake* checking or other reckless behavior by the lead driver, rear ending someone because you were looking away to check mirrors is generally strong evidence that you failed to maintain a safe following distance given the circumstances. A driver facing camera would support that conclusion rather than absolve you of responsibility.

In the case of someone driving erratically and causing a front end collision, your typical front-facing dashcam would be all you need to prove your innocence.

[–] WraithGear@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

correct, because a front end can is a defensive measure you add to your car to protect you. an inward facing camera can not ever be for your benefit.

[–] NikkiDimes@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Ah, I thought you were saying you could use the inward camera for the inverse. I misread your initial comment, my apologies.