Bad driving has always been around, but it's only been in the past decade or so that capable and affordable dash cams have come to capture blunderers and make sure insurance pay. But even though car owners are spoiled for choice, these handy devices don't grace most private vehicles. Google considers this an untapped need it wants to address, with a new feature in the works for Pixel phones.
That new feature is dash cam. It's been spotted within Personal Safety, an app that was introduced to Google Pixel phones via a Feature Drop from October 2019 and has since spread to a small selection of Android phones from other brands. Among other features, the app can attempt to contact emergency services if, through the phone's sensors, it detects the user has been in a crash. So, including dash cam recording would be a natural fit here.
According to 9to5Google, Google circulated a recent "dogfood" or internal-use build of the app through the Play Store and out to the general population. The publication was then able to activate a dash cam feature hidden within the code.
From what's been surfaced, the dash cam can be configured to start recording once your phone connects to your vehicle's infotainment system via Bluetooth. The feature can record video (and, optionally, microphone audio) while the user is away from the app or the phone is not being used to save on battery life if the phone isn't charging. Videos are recorded at a quoted rate of "30 megabytes per minute" - that's about 4Mbps, which nets more than 34 minutes per gigabyte - with a maximum clip length of 24 hours.
By default, these clips are wiped from the phone after three days unless the user opts to save them.
Of course, there are a fair few caveats we must bring up at this stage. For one, using your phone as a dash cam means you'll need to mount it in an optimal position, and that depends on your vehicle and the mount. Another unknown is real-world performance, especially during hot, sunny weather when your phone is most prone to overheating while shooting video. Keep in mind that changes can come along to turn the experience upside down. We'd like to see a toggle that lets you choose which of your phone's cameras to record with.
And, yes, all of this could be limited to Pixel phones, or never see the light of day at all. The feature looks nicely built out for a "version one", so we wouldn't be surprised to see dash cam appear in Personal Safety as part of the next Pixel Feature Drop announcement in June.