With the primary update of 2023, Tesla has provided a useful undocumented feature, the power to view the cabin camera from throughout the vehicle.
In update 2023.2 (release notes), Tesla will allow owners to view their cabin camera directly from the vehicle. It will give users an idea of what the camera can and may not see when activated, hopefully providing peace of mind.
To view the live cabin camera feed, you may give you the chance to navigate to Controls > Service > Camera Preview, once you’ve got received this latest update.
Once you switch on the live feed, it’s going to take up the whole right portion of the screen on a Model 3 and Model Y, letting you view the feed within the detail.
There doesn’t look like a purpose for this feature besides making owners more aware of what’s being transmitted to a distant viewer, or possibly to view your personal camera feed before starting a Zoom meeting.
In version 2022.44.30.10, Tesla enabled users to view the cabin camera remotely while the vehicle’s Sentry Mode or Dog Mode features are activated. Previously, the cabin camera was only used for driver monitoring while Full Self-Driving or Autopilot were engaged.
If the cabin camera is being viewed remotely while Sentry Mode or Dog Mode are enabled, a message will appear on the screen letting any individuals contained in the vehicle know they’re being viewed.
Prior to those recent additions and enhancements owners were unable to access the cabin camera themselves. Tesla has said that each one video and pictures captured by the camera are processed by the vehicle and never transmitted to Tesla, unless you enable the information sharing feature, which is used to further improve the feature.
“By default, images and video from the camera don’t leave the vehicle itself and aren’t transmitted to anyone, including Tesla, unless you enable data sharing,” reads the Model 3 Owner’s Manual. “For those who enable data sharing and a security critical event occurs (equivalent to a collision), Model 3 shares short cabin camera video clips with Tesla to assist us develop future safety enhancements and repeatedly improve the intelligence of features that depend on the cabin camera.”
If you ought to adjust your data sharing preferences, head to Controls > Software > Data Sharing > Allow Cabin Camera Analytics.