Internal TeslaCam: What Does It See?

In addition to the eight exterior cameras, there is also a small camera inside the Teslas. So far, Tesla has kept a low profile on what this camera sees and when it will go live. Now, Twitter user @greentheonly has posted some videos showing us the camera’s perspective and annotations. The same Twitter user is already known for his videos published almost two years ago, what the Tesla Autopilot sees (see also his YouTube videos).

The camera can see the driver’s eyes, head position and such, even if the angle is not ideal. What it can’t see is if the driver is holding the steering wheel or looking at a laptop on the console (vs infotainment screen). Unlike Tesla renders, the steering wheel is definitely not in the frame.

In the annotations, the camera describes the direction in which the eyes are looking, whether the eyes are closed, whether the driver is wearing glasses, and whether the driver is using a smartphone.

This feature has apparently been added to the vehicles with an update in September 2020.

Here is the original tweet:

Interesting that "phone use" for Tesla means "driver is holding a phone in front of them" not "driver is talking on a phone that's pressed to their ear". pic.twitter.com/7Dumsx3Kmq

— green (@greentheonly) April 7, 2021

He also posted two videos on YouTube showing the camera footage during the day and night:

This article was also published in German.