They do record continuously, in a loop. The time of that loop is typically under a minute. Older video is erased. The ones we had at my last job had an 18 second loop. If a save was triggered, it would record for another 6 seconds, so you would have an 18 second video; 12 seconds before the trigger, and six seconds after.
What would trigger a save? Either pushing a button, or a significant inertial event (hard brake, accident, or the like). There is NO remote trigger; the "guys at Corporate" can't use it to spy on you.
I can tell you what the camera does NOT do... constantly stream video to anywhere. Imagine your cell phone bill if you streamed Netflix 24/7 for the entire month... and multiply that by the number of trucks in the fleet.
To be honest, the Qualcomm does a lot more tattling on you than a dash cam will ever do.
Camera's are coming to a truck near you or Yours.
Discussion in 'Swift' started by Switches, Aug 26, 2014.
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It won't be too long into the future there will be blimp drones floating around spewing out free internet wifi. Qualcomm's right now can glomm onto free wifi. I don't even need a tin foil bandana to put it together that soon there will be live streaming dashcam video mandated by the FMCSA
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2. Constant streaming video would require a live human being to monitor it. That live human being would need to be paid and insured. That live human being would not be able to accomplish any other tasks while monitoring this live feed.
So we're talking about having a company hire and pay two people for every truck on the road. Think that'll happen? Even if you have one person monitor 10 feeds, you're still talking about paying and insuring an extra person for every ten trucks on the road. Companies are trying to find ways to operated effectively with fewer people per truck, not more. Plus the cost of the bandwidth plus the cost of maintaining all the parts of the system when it breaks.
The idea of these systems is to cut costs by identifying and eliminating potentially dangerous driving habits before they turn into accidents and by providing proof of innocence for the company and driver in cases that proof might not otherwise exist. Streaming live video will come with a relatively high cost and will not provide any meaningful benefit that couldn't be achieved by other cheaper means. -
So , I wonder how safe they would veiw seeing me pick my nose or scratch my ### while going down the road?
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The first of which is the 'loop'.
The camera records video in segments, and when the memory is filled it deletes the oldest to make room for the new.
That is your 'loop'.
The loop can be very short to very long.
One factor is how much memory the camera has to work with.
Your one minute 'loop' can be made into a 14 hour long continuous video if the camera has a 64GB memory card. Mine does, but it records in 3 minute segments.
My actual 'loop' is around 14 hours.
And while it may not stream video minute by minute, it would not be difficult to connect the camera with the QC to give the ability to download a small file or two at any given time to whomever wants to see it.
A camera coupled with a Qualcom means they can see you whenever they want.
All they have to do is push a couple keys on a keyboard. -
My "assumptions" are what was told to me by a member of the design team for the cameras that were installed in my last employer's vehicles.
You are correct; it would not be difficult to set up a system where an employer could arbitrarily view a segment of video from an interior-recording dash cam. However, any company found to be doing so would find themselves on the losing side of a very expensive lawsuit. Workplace surveillance laws are in effect in a truck just like they are in a building.
The fundamental issue is the employee's expectation of privacy. If the truck is shut down and you are off duty, it would be reasonable to expect privacy in the sleeper of your truck. Heck, it's where you change clothes... and most states have laws against cameras in locker rooms and fitting rooms.
Now, when you are sitting in the driver's seat of a moving truck, you don't have the same expectation of privacy. Anyone passing you can see you through the window. Even at this time, an employer is going to have a difficult time convincing a judge that there is a justifiable need for surveillance.
That all changes if you are involved in an accident. The company has a vested interest in finding out all the details of what led to the accident. Triggered recordings have been upheld in court as a justifiable need.
None of those rules apply for personal dash cams, BTW. Since you can directly control what your employer sees (court orders notwithstanding), there is no privacy issue there.
The difference in rules dictates a different design in the dash cams. Personal cams do write stretches of video directly to flash memory, and erase the oldest one when space runs out. Company cams don't work that way; they literally do save the video to a bit of memory (a buffer) large enough to hold only 30 seconds of video. If there's a trigger, then the contents of that buffer are written to storage for uploading at a later time. -
I mean if you want to talk about pie in the sky possibilities, then you might as well give up now and go live in the woods because next week, they could have cameras on every sign post in the country that will be able to read your thoughts and then you'll get arrested for just thinking about committing a crime. Hey it could happen right?
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I do t think this is gonna work out for them in the best ways.. but whatever ...
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Johan,
If a company as large as Swift decided to install camera's in all of their trucks, how difficult would it be for them to go to a company and say 'build me a camera with these specs'?
Forward and driver views.
Built-in storage for 12 hours of video and audio at 1080P.
Connectivity with our Qualcom, wired or wireless.
It's not 'pie in the sky' possibilities. It is very possible, and for not that much money.
They could throw Cobra half a mil and have it done, with the finished product at $100 per unit.
Don't think they have the money?
Even the cost of downloading those videos is not really that much, with the right deal with the right ISP. Just because we pay a premium does not mean that a large company would.
And it would not be random. They know when our truck is moving and where it is at any given time.
Given that knowledge, they know when we are in wide open country. They know when we are in a city, in rush hour, in our bunk...
If they want to be Bigger Brother, they can do so without too much trouble.
You don't think that anyone but myself can think of these things?
Get real. -
Call me crazy but another perspective is that in truck/car accidents the truck is assumed to be at fault by many people. Wouldn't it be nice to have video proof that the moron four wheeler caused the accident?
Scott101 Thanks this.
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