Taxi / rideshare cameras

[Michael_K]

Here is a place to discuss taxi / rideshare cameras in general.

I think that an interior camera could be useful even for a person that isn't in the taxi or rideshare business.
If I'm involved in an accident, the police may be curious about my attentiveness. I'm always alert, and don't use my phone or eat while driving. So, I figure that an interior camera could help my case.

Any opinions?
Has an interior camera helped anyone?

 

[Nigel]

An interior camera doesn't just see inside, it is also useful to see all around the car, if it has a wide enough field of view then it can see everything that a front camera doesn't see, except for what is blocked by people's heads, makes for an easy to install rear camera - no need to run cables to the back of the car, although the view out of the back window is not as good as a real rear camera:

 

[dash riposki]

The problem with having internal (driver) video is mostly civil court related stuff.
If there is a more serious accident, with some major lawsuits going on, ANYTHING the driver does on cam which can be remotely construed as unsafe, or minorly inattentive, can be a toehold to claim the driver is not safe. (even if it has nothing to do with the incident in question)
This is one reason I'd like to see the 'uber' type cams have a setting to limit the amount of internal cam files, , like 30 minutes.

The larger trucking companies were fast to jump on the driver recording cameras, mostly fueled by enthusiastic sales people.
Many have backed off, and uninstalled them or are only putting in forward facing cams now.

While the commercial cams usually only save 10-15 seconds of video related to a triggered incident, I think they still provided too much unrelated driver stuff that made civil suits more problematic for the driver.

I haven't run over anything or anyone in millions of miles, or had any sort of traffic ticket in a truck in 25 years. I don't have much real to hide. I don't need some lawyer questioning why I was picking my nose at a traffic light 3 intersections before the car that ran a red light hit me....and whether if meant I wasn't paying attention.

My perspective is from 4 million miles in tractor trailers, including being involved in fatality accident that wasn't remotely my fault, 30 years ago....and dealing with a few years of lawsuits and reduced employment, anyway.

 

[kamkar]

I do have a cabin camera, but its just there so i can test on the B1W for a bit longer as my windscreen are pretty occupied.
In general for normal people i would not recommend it, but i can see it useful for the Uber / Lyft drivers having a lot of potential unsafe "cargo" in and out of their vehicle.

When i will be donating some of my current cameras to strangers soon, i will be video covering my own ass as i hand over the camera, cuz you never know if any haters have been entering in the draw just to get a hold of me and mess me up cuz i dare to voice against unsafe drivers.
Not that i am afraid of a good ass kicking, its just i am older and slower now, and people now are so un-classy 3-4 people jumping one guy are not something they would care about.
When i was young and some one came and wanted to beat on who ever you was beating or beathim after you was done and the guy was lying down already, they would be told to "F" off cuz you just dident do stuff like that.

 

[crabu2]

Here is a place to discuss taxi / rideshare cameras in general.

I think that an interior camera could be useful even for a person that isn't in the taxi or rideshare business.
If I'm involved in an accident, the police may be curious about my attentiveness. I'm always alert, and don't use my phone or eat while driving. So, I figure that an interior camera could help my case.

Any opinions?
Has an interior camera helped anyone?

Forget about cops and what not.. I had an N2 Pro and loved having an interior camera. It was mostly because of what Nigel pointed out... You got a view of not just the interior.

As for cops and what not.. what's better or worse... Interior cam or GPS? If you're driving wreckless, the GPS is going to pick up on it, since it will give speed and position. Even without GPS, they, if they wanted, they could figure it out based on the footage. Interior cam... sure, they might see you fiddle with the radio or whatever, but who doesn't? Can anyone legitimately say they've never done something they shouldn't have while driving?

BTW, I originally got the N2 Pro for the interior cam because I have a convertible and figured it would be a great rear cam, when the top was down.. And it was.. I need to get another dashcam with interior... I'm kind of hooked on it.

 

[kamkar]

Putting a camera in your car should prompt you to think a little more about what you do in your car, it have for me though i was started on the path of not being a dangerous idiot driver long before i got to dashcams.
And i have no worries about evil cops, doing this or that.

Of course there are always room for improvement, at least if you are a realistic person with a functioning mind.

 

[Nigel]

If you're driving wreckless, the GPS is going to pick up on it... Can anyone legitimately say they've never done something they shouldn't have while driving?

Is that how the USA spells reckless? In UK "wreckless" has the opposite meaning to what you intended - that you never have a wreck!

I think if you are a careful driver then there is far more chance of the interior view supporting your safe driving than incriminating you. Any judge/jury understands that people sometimes pick their nose without loosing concentration! And the interior camera proves that the claims of you using a hand held phone, or a phone of any kind are untrue, which puts all the other evidence against you in doubt.

For commercial vehicles where the driver is being recorded by their company then there is a different issue, the driver should have a right to privacy which can easily be violated if their company has poorly controlled access to the recordings.

BTW, I originally got the N2 Pro for the interior cam because I have a convertible and figured it would be a great rear cam, when the top was down.. And it was.. I need to get another dashcam with interior... I'm kind of hooked on it.

Well don't get another N2 Pro, there are better choices coming soon... like the one I used for my video above.

 

[crabu2]

Is that how the USA spells reckless? In UK "wreckless" has the opposite meaning to what you intended - that you never have a wreck!

I think if you are a careful driver then there is far more chance of the interior view supporting your safe driving than incriminating you. Any judge/jury understands that people sometimes pick their nose without loosing concentration! And the interior camera proves that the claims of you using a hand held phone, or a phone of any kind are untrue, which puts all the other evidence against you in doubt.

For commercial vehicles where the driver is being recorded by their company then there is a different issue, the driver should have a right to privacy which can easily be violated if their company has poorly controlled access to the recordings.


Well don't get another N2 Pro, there are better choices coming soon... like the one I used for my video above.

Haha.. I have no idea is it's reckless or Wreckless.. I've always used W.. and no one's ever said I was wrong or right.

As for the newer cams.. when are they suppose to hit the market?

 

[Nigel]

Haha.. I have no idea is it's reckless or Wreckless.. I've always used W.. and no one's ever said I was wrong or right.

Well I know which is right for English English, but USA english is a different matter, you spell some words differently and in some cases use totally different words. But it would seem odd to spell reckless with an extra W since you often refer to road accidents as wrecks, which would be very unusual here.

As for the newer cams.. when are they suppose to hit the market?

I believe the Viofo A129 duo with internal IR camera will be out at the end of this month, although it is already available with a rear camera that could be used as an internal camera if you don't need IR, however you then get an unreasonably long cable instead of a short convenient one.

Other cameras, I can't comment on since I'm not aware of the timescales, only that they are in development, and in some cases like the taxicam I used above, fairly advanced development.

 

[estore009]

Other cameras, I can't comment on since I'm not aware of the timescales, only that they are in development, and in some cases like the taxicam I used above, fairly advanced development.

Do you mean our new module? Working hard on it...

 

[Nigel]

Do you mean our new module? Working hard on it...

An ubercam in the B1W family should be of interest to a lot of people

 

[SawMaster]

I'm still of two minds regarding my interior cam. I do like that it captures the right half of my head so that all can see that I'm watching the road and not something else, and also that I'm checking my side mirrors and doing a 'over-the-shoulder'- check long before changing lanes. But due to my business, I do sometimes have to take a phone call or take a quick glimpse at a text if that's possible. It's also my 'pocket-watch' so I do occasionally look at it, mostly to determine what speed to do in a school zone as those are lower during certain hours. I do not even touch my phone at any time where it might be unsafe, but the aforementioned things will be recorded and might be questionable behavior and even illegal regards texts. So it's good and bad both for me, yet I think the good does outweigh the bad.

I still do not record audio for the fact that I speak my mind to myself, and that I'm a terrible singer which I want neither of those things recorded. Should I need audio it will be on a separate device so that I can control what goes onto it and what doesn't.

Since my "taxi" cam is my primary cam, it's recording 24/7 to assist with security purposes. That gives me the interior now too, and the IR function at night is a godsend here as even Starvis sensors can't penetrate the darkness inside where I park at night. Plus it does offer something of a small but high view out the rear windows some 15+ ft *(or 3 meters) away. Were it not for the shelves lining both sides that view would be great as my van is all-glass, not the solid-metal version. Kind of the same for convertible (drop-head) cars. The only real beef I've had is that there were/are only two decent or better cams in that game, and what I consider "decent" probably isn't for a lot of people. I'm darn glad to see this finally being addressed by the better cam manufacturers especially in the dual-remote models.

An interior cam could be beneficial in a number of ways, but same as any dashcam it also shows you too, so wield it well and it might help. Wield it poorly when things turn bad and the teeth you will feel in your backside will be your own.

Phil

 

[SawMaster]

BTW, I originally got the N2 Pro for the interior cam because I have a convertible and figured it would be a great rear cam, when the top was down.. And it was.. I need to get another dashcam with interior... I'm kind of hooked on it.

The A129 IR cam will almost certainly hit the retail market first, but Street Guardian may beat them with their 'dual-remote' non-IR model. The K2S dual-remote will be the second or third to emerge but nobody's talking about when their IR module will be ready. There's at least one other dedicated one-piece "taxi" cam in the works I personally know of and probably 1 or 2 more from others where my info is really just hear-say. So a little patience please, and soon that will be rewarded by choices far beyond than what we've seen before in being better, cheaper, and maybe even both.

Phil

 

[Nigel]

Wield it poorly when thing turn bad and the teeth you will feel in your backside will be your own.

Quite a few people manage to do that quite effectively with just a front facing camera

 

[SawMaster]

Quite a few people manage to do that quite effectively with just a front facing camera

I always ask people who perform acts of obvious stupidity like this "How'd you get your teeth back there?" but so far none have understood the question at all which reinforces my beliefs on their level of intelligence

Phil