Dashcam suppose to auto save?

[FOOLSLFDRVNG]

Is the Dashcam suppose to save your entire trip or are you suppose to hit the save button only if you want the trip saved?

Is it suppose to work like an aftermarket dash cam that constantly records and overwrites?

I see several threads of previous updates changing from autosave to manual saves.

Mine seems to only save if I click save, brand new 256 Gig.

 

[jrweiss98020]

Manual, p. 74:

Recent Clips - The footage in Recent Clips continuously loops in 60-minute cycles whenever the cameras are activated. Therefore, footage is overwritten every hour unless you save it. When an event is recorded, one video is recorded for each of the front, rear, left, and right cameras.

 

[Lexdysic]

If you honk your horn, it automatically saves as well.

 

[jrweiss98020]

Only if you set it to do so.

 

[hugh_jassol]

Is the Dashcam suppose to save your entire trip or are you suppose to hit the save button only if you want the trip saved?

Is it suppose to work like an aftermarket dash cam that constantly records and overwrites?

I see several threads of previous updates changing from autosave to manual saves.

Mine seems to only save if I click save, brand new 256 Gig.

No it's not supposed to save your entire trip. It's supposed to save the last hour of camera-on-time. If you want to save a clip you have to hit the camera icon on the screen, that will cause it to save the most recent 10min to a separate folder. Additionally, you can turn on save-on-honk, in which case honking the horn will also save a clip.

 

[Hippo25]

Does dashcam automatically save if you get into an accident? Or do you need to honk your horn after an accident or remember to hit save dashcam?

 

[n.one.one]

Does dashcam automatically save if you get into an accident? Or do you need to honk your horn after an accident or remember to hit save dashcam?

As of 2021.24.x it does save after an accident. It's not clear how severe the accident needs to be to trigger this but I assume that a simple parking lot bump would not and an airbag deployment would.
Here are release notes per TeslaFi.

 

[ChopinBlues]

No it's not supposed to save your entire trip. It's supposed to save the last hour of camera-on-time.

I have found this "last hour" business to be very inconsistent. But there is one thing about it that is quite repeatable, and, IMHO, just plain wrong: the last hour's worth of driving footage gradually goes away when the car is parked. Note that I have sentry turned OFF, so it's not like it's overwriting it or anything with sentry footage -- there is simply no footage whatsoever, after being left parked for some period of time.

This is happening with s/w version 2021.11.103, on a brand new M3 (took delivery 2 weeks ago). The manual does say the dashcam feature is BETA, but still, this seems like a pretty obvious bug, and one that's easy to fix.

 

[Cal1]

How do you manually save a recent close call without the horn? Button I'm overlooking on the main screen? I'm a Plaid on 32.22

 

[ChopinBlues]

How do you manually save a recent close call without the horn? Button I'm overlooking on the main screen? I'm a Plaid on 32.22

In theory, you just tap the dashcam icon, which brings up a menu with a 'Save' item -- I'm just not sure what exactly it saves.

 

[Cal1]

Thanks!

 

[angus[Y]oung]

In theory, you just tap the dashcam icon, which brings up a menu with a 'Save' item -- I'm just not sure what exactly it saves.

@ChopinBlues if your vehicle is in park, tapping that icon drops down a little menu, where you can pick save or you can launch the viewer. However, if your vehicle is in gear (Drive, Reverse), tapping the icon just saves the clip.

 

[ChopinBlues]

Ya, after reading the (very poorly done) manual like 3 times, and playing with it for 2 weeks, I've finally figured out all the quirks. My big complaint is the fact that it starts erasing the clips it recorded while driving as soon as you park the car, and after one hour, all the driving video clips have disappeared. This is not only pointless, and illogical, it's downright stupid. I would fire the guy that insisted on implementing it this way. I have owned at least 4-5 dash cams over the years, and NONE of them work this way. And they all continue to record until the flash fills, before erasing, rather than being limited to one hour. That aspect is not quite as problematical, but still pointless and illogical.

 

[angus[Y]oung]

Ya, after reading the (very poorly done) manual like 3 times, and playing with it for 2 weeks, I've finally figured out all the quirks. My big complaint is the fact that it starts erasing the clips it recorded while driving as soon as you park the car, and after one hour, all the driving video clips have disappeared. This is not only pointless, and illogical, it's downright stupid. I would fire the guy that insisted on implementing it this way. I have owned at least 4-5 dash cams over the years, and NONE of them work this way. And they all continue to record until the flash fills, before erasing, rather than being limited to one hour. That aspect is not quite as problematical, but still pointless and illogical.

@ChopinBlues one thing to keep in mind is that the dash cam feature isn't the primary use for the cameras and earlier Tesla models originally came without the feature--it was added later as a software update. The cameras are in the car to support the ADAS features (AutoPilot, FSD if equipped, safety features). The TeslaCam (and Sentry) features leverage that hardware and let you tap into it.

The benefit is that they are always on and cost you nothing extra--the drawback is that they are not as flexible or feature-rich as an aftermarket dashcam. The opposite is true for an aftermarket system. If the built in feature doesn't meet your needs, you may want to look at an aftermarket solution.

 

[ChopinBlues]

@ChopinBlues one thing to keep in mind is that the dash cam feature isn't the primary use for the cameras

I have heard others on this forum try to use that as an excuse, and that's what it is, just an excuse. Here's an analogy: What if the heater in your ICE car didn't function the way you expect like a normal heater, and you were told that the heat is generated by the running of the engine, and isn't the primary use for running the engine -- you would be outraged.

The bottom line is, there are 2 pages in the manual devoted to this feature, and in this manual, they in fact refer to it as a dashcam. For people like myself who have owned dashcams for years, that strongly implies it's going to function like a normal dashcam, just like you expect the heater to function like a normal heater.

The only possible excuse is that in the manual, it does state this is a BETA feature. Fine, Beta implies there might be bugs, but the problem with this dashcam is not bugs, it's the implementation, which is very intentional. And I repeat, there is simply no excuse for limiting the recording time to one hour; and erasing your video clips, simply because you stopped driving, and parked the car is just plain idiotic, and I would say that to the face of whoever designed it this way.

 

[angus[Y]oung]

I have heard others on this forum try to use that as an excuse, and that's what it is, just an excuse. Here's an analogy: What if the heater in your ICE car didn't function the way you expect like a normal heater, and you were told that the heat is generated by the running of the engine, and isn't the primary use for running the engine -- you would be outraged.

@ChopinBlues fair enough, and you're definitely entitled to your opinions and feelings about the feature. But to make your analogy somewhat more accurate would require other manufacturers to not include any heater at all with their vehicles and some people choose to go out and purchase aftermarket car cabin heaters, all of which function in very similar ways to each other. Then Tesla comes along and thinks: hey, our electric motors already generate quite a bit of heat in their operation, so let's put together a make-shift cabin heater and offer it to our customers with no extra purchase required, and maybe it doesn't work exactly the same and offer all the same features, but for some it could be a nice convenience to stay warm some of the time without bothering with purchasing something aftermarket. In that context, would I be outraged that the included beta heater only produced heat while the car was in motion to generate the heat where a 3rd party solution I could purchase could heat it up 24x7 if I wanted? Maybe...maybe not.

 

[ChopinBlues]

It's a SIMPLE, no cost, software change to make it work rationally, like every other dashcam on the market

 

[angus[Y]oung]

It's a SIMPLE, no cost, software change to make it work rationally, like every other dashcam on the market

@ChopinBlues I get that you want it. Try tweeting Elon on Twitter--that seems to be how the company intakes most of their new feature requests! In all seriousness though, there's pretty much no such thing as a no-cost software change (speaking as a professional software developer myself) and we have no idea if there were other constraints or design considerations which lead to the current implementation. We can only speculate. If it means that much to you, why not just pick up a dashcam and turn off the Tesla one?

 

[Shanz85]

ok I have a similar problem, dash cam used to record for hours and just record over itself. I drove past a rivan and wanted to check it out on the cam nothing only the most recent clip and one old saved clip. Reformatted SD card still will only have the most recent clip when I check on computer or viewer. This isn't how it used to work.

 

[angus[Y]oung]

ok I have a similar problem, dash cam used to record for hours and just record over itself. I drove past a rivan and wanted to check it out on the cam nothing only the most recent clip and one old saved clip. Reformatted SD card still will only have the most recent clip when I check on computer or viewer. This isn't how it used to work.

@Shanz85 if that happens again, just tap the little TeslaCam icon near the top right of your display to manually save a clip. You would then be able to watch it later and check out the Rivian. Maybe I haven't had my Tesla long enough to know otherwise but to the best of my knowledge it is a continuous 1 hour loop (not multiple hours), and you can save the last 10 mins by tapping the icon I mentioned or honking your horn (if you have that option turned on).