Tesla has turned its vehicles into some of the world’s most expensive surveillance cameras by adding livestreaming capabilities to the Sentry Mode feature that debuted in 2019.
Sentry Mode turns a Tesla’s built-in cameras into an alarm system meant to deter would-be car thieves and other ne’er-do-wells. If something happens to the vehicle, Sentry Mode notifies its owners via the Tesla mobile app, which could be used to watch a recording of the incident.
Electrek reports that Tesla enabled livestreaming in a vehicle software update. This should allow Sentry Mode to be used proactively instead of merely warning car owners of incidents after the fact. Here’s how Tesla describes the feature in the release notes for that software update:
You can now remotely view your car’s surroundings when parked to confirm the safety of your environment before returning to your car. Live Camera is end-to-end encrypted and cannot be accessed by Tesla. To enable or disable tap Controls > Safety & Security.
But there are some limitations. Electrek says that Sentry Mode’s livestreaming capabilities are exclusive to the iOS version of Tesla’s mobile app, and it’s only available to Premium Connectivity subscribers, who pay $10 per month for access to additional software features.
While this could prove useful to Tesla owners, it’s not clear how the company might protect the privacy of people who just happen to be near a vehicle when Sentry Mode is livestreaming, or at least notify them that what they thought was just an electric vehicle is in fact a camera as well.
We reached out to Tesla for more information but haven’t received a response.
