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Submission + - My car was in a hit-and-run. Then I learned it recorded the whole thing. (washingtonpost.com) 1

Strudelkugel writes: My parked car got gashed in a hit-and-run two weeks ago. I found a star witness: the car itself.

Like mine, your car might have cameras. At least one rearview camera has been required on new American cars since 2018. I drive a Tesla Model 3 that has eight lenses pointing in every direction, which it uses for backing up, parking and cruise control. A year ago, Tesla updated its software to also turn its cameras into a 360-degree video recorder. Even when the car is off.

All those digital eyes captured my culprit — a swerving city bus — in remarkable detail.

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk calls this function Sentry Mode. I also call it Chaperone Mode and Snitch Mode. I’ve been writing recently about how we don’t drive cars, we drive computers. But this experience opened my eyes.

I love that my car recorded a hit-and-run on my behalf. Yet I’m scared we’re not ready for the ways cameras pointed inside and outside vehicles will change the open road — just like the cameras we’re adding to doorbells are changing our neighborhoods.

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My car was in a hit-and-run. Then I learned it recorded the whole thing.

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