Sentry Mode: Another American-First Feature?

[ytwytw]

Reading the news today and everyone is talking about the new "Sentry Mode"

Original Tesla Blog Link here

Sentry Mode: Guarding Your Tesla

Everything looks good, until I read the following...

"Sentry Mode must be enabled each time a driver wants to use the feature by going to Controls > Safety & Security > Sentry Mode. The feature will begin rolling out today to U.S. Model 3 vehicles, followed by Model S and Model X vehicles that were built after August 2017"

U.S. Model 3 followed by Model S and Model X

Unlike the Nav of Autopilot which does require Canadian Mapping data update, Sentry Mode does not require any country-dependent data

Possible reason?

Canadian Data Roaming fee is way too expensive, uploading videos could burn Tesla's pocket, my 2c
or Robelus did not give Tesla a good Data Deal

 

[bbcop]

sentry mode require USB though, not through LTE

 

[The Defiant]

I am looking forward to it.

 

[TexasTeslaRacing]

Seems like a nice feature, but if the theifs know anything about how this system works they will take the usb’s along with your valuables. No video no evidence. Would be nice to have this data upload real time to the cloud. One can hope.

 

[chillaban]

Just a guess.... Does Canada law differ from US law in terms of expectation of privacy / videography in public? Of children? There's zero expectation of privacy in public in the US which makes it a lot easier to deploy personal surveillance systems.

 

[5_+JqckQttqck]

Seems like a nice feature, but if the theifs know anything about how this system works they will take the usb’s along with your valuables. No video no evidence. Would be nice to have this data upload real time to the cloud. One can hope.

It'd be a complicated third party system that runs on a battery. I suppose it is do able with enough determination and technical know how. But be ready for this system to be stolen too

 

[Funkmobile]

Just a guess.... Does Canada law differ from US law in terms of expectation of privacy / videography in public? Of children? There's zero expectation of privacy in public in the US which makes it a lot easier to deploy personal surveillance systems.

Laws are pretty much the same:

Guidelines for Overt Video Surveillance in the Private Sector - Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Plus there's always been dash cams with always on parking mode, and other home video security related devices sold in Canada.

 

[swotam]

...if the theifs know anything about how this system works they will take the usb’s along with your valuables...

I guess that depends on how willing they are to smash open the front window and start rummaging around in the storage bin looking for the USB drive while your car is belting out Bach at max volume. That's bound to attract some attention...

Ultimately though, there's only so much you (or Tesla) can do. If someone really wants to break into your car they are probably going to do it regardless of the outcome, but for the casual smash and grab types, like the ones who break the back quarter window to flip the seat down to look in the trunk, it might send them in search of easier prey.

I'm just disappointed that it seems to be US-only for now.

 

[5_+JqckQttqck]

Ultimately though, there's only so much you (or Tesla) can do. If someone really wants to break into your car they are probably going to do it regardless of the outcome, but for the casual smash and grab types, like the ones who break the back quarter window to flip the seat down to look in the trunk, it might send them in search of easier prey.

I'm just disappointed that it seems to be US-only for now.

There's a cubby under the trunk space that's ample storage for bags / sports gear.

 

[ben1628]

Lol. I still remember my trip to Greece, my rental car get broken into (window smashed), though there was nothing there. Got a replacment, got broken into again. The last one is a Mercedes, and I just open up the back seats so they could see through the truck (just like Tesla). Nothing happened for that night.

In summary, if you are in a high crime area, just make sure you open up the back seats to show people you have nothing there. Getting one of those 3D printed plastic for your backseats won't help, they are so fragile anyway.

Of course, if you have valuable there, don't park it there...

 

[ytwytw]

sentry mode require USB though, not through LTE

Quote from blog
They’ll be able to download a video recording of an incident (which begins 10 minutes prior to the time a threat was detected)

 

[ytwytw]

Seems like a nice feature, but if the theifs know anything about how this system works they will take the usb’s along with your valuables. No video no evidence. Would be nice to have this data upload real time to the cloud. One can hope.

They do, but only when alarm mode is triggered

 

[TexasTeslaRacing]

Agreed it’s a step in the right direction.

 

[swotam]

They do, but only when alarm mode is triggered

The video is saved to USB so you can "download" it to your PC. It is not stored in the cloud, USB is required.

They’ll be able to download a video recording of an incident (which begins 10 minutes prior to the time a threat was detected) by inserting a formatted USB drive into their car before they enable Sentry Mode.

You insert the USB drive before you enable Sentry Mode, and if the alarm is triggered it will save the previous 10 min of footage to the USB drive. You download it from the USB drive to your PC, etc.

 

[MP3Mike]

Quote from blog
They’ll be able to download a video recording of an incident (which begins 10 minutes prior to the time a threat was detected)

You left off the most important part of that sentence:

"They’ll be able to download a video recording of an incident (which begins 10 minutes prior to the time a threat was detected) by inserting a formatted USB drive into their car before they enable Sentry Mode."

 

[5_+JqckQttqck]

You left off the most important part of that sentence:

"They’ll be able to download a video recording of an incident (which begins 10 minutes prior to the time a threat was detected) by inserting a formatted USB drive into their car before they enable Sentry Mode."

So it works like this as I understand the above bolded line.

1. Bloke breaks into your car, alarm goes off, cameras record the event for 10 minutes after the initial alarm trigger.

2. You come back to find your precious broken into and your five dollar foot long coupons stolen. You're royally pissed and realised you have the perpetrator on camera.

3. You put the USB drive into one of the slots (Step 1) and enable Sentry mode (Step 2) to "Transfer" the 10 minute Alarm footage from the car's memory onto said USB for the cops/insurance claim.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[ben1628]

Hopefully, the recording also has timestamp to show when it happened.

 

[MP3Mike]

3. You put the USB drive into one of the slots (Step 1) and enable Sentry mode (Step 2) to "Transfer" the 10 minute Alarm footage from the car's memory onto said USB for the cops/insurance claim.

Nope, you have to put the USB drive in and enable Sentry mode when you leave the car. Before the break-in happens.

 

[5_+JqckQttqck]

Nope, you have to put the USB drive in and enable Sentry mode when you leave the car. Before the break-in happens.

That's pointless if the thief steals the USB drive too.

 

[swotam]

OK, so there seems to be some confusion about how this works, however from what I've figured out from various online sources it works like this:

1. You put a USB stick in the car which is setup so the Dashcam can use it
2. You leave the car and manually enable Sentry Mode. HAL9000 appears on the screen.
   • Car stays awake and Dashcam continuously records (but does not save) 10 min of footage from front and side cameras to the USB drive
3. Someone hits your car hard or breaks into your car by breaking a window
   
4. Alarm sounds, causing the car to auto-save the previous 10 min of footage to the USB drive. Car starts playing music EXTREMELY LOUDLY by cranking the car volume to full while playing Bach (or something like that). Everyone nearby stares at car / thief.

That's it. No uploading to the cloud, no starting to record after the break-in occurs, no army of unicorns descending from the sky hurling lightning bolts at the perpetrator (although that would be sort of cool), etc.

If the thief decides to get into the car and remove the USB drive then that is what it is, however odds are they'll want to get the hell away from the car considering how much noise it's making and how much attention it's probably drawing.

Ultimately, there's only so much any company can do, but at least Tesla is adding this as a potential deterrent.

Also, seems to be US-only at the moment, so those of us in Canada might be waiting for a while...