Footage of Tesla’s new Dashcam Viewer feature from OTA update 2020.12.5 was recently shared by a Model 3 owner. The Dashcam Viewer feature was suggested to Elon Musk by the Tesla community, and the EV automaker appears to have listened.
News of the new feature was revealed several days ago by Tesla owner u/chaunbot, who had received early access to update 2020.12.5. According to a previous Tesmanian report, the wide release of Tesla’s Dashcam Viewer feature could take place in the coming weeks or maybe even days.
Tesla enthusiast @esok_mir was one of the first owners to get early access to the Dashcam Viewer feature. He shared the full release notes for the feature via Twitter. “All of our prayers have been answered by TESLA. Thank you,” he said in his tweet.
Redditor u/chaunbot was able to download Tesla’s 2020.12.5 software update for his/her Model 3. Although it is unclear whether u/chaunbot also received early access to the OTA update or Tesla has really started releasing 2020.12.5 to all owners.
However, the Model 3 owner did mention in his/her Reddit post about the Tesla update that 2020.12.5 wasn’t on teslafi yet. Teslafi tracks the release of the EV automaker’s software update. The fact that 2020.12.5 hasn’t been registered in teslafi yet could be an indication that the update hasn’t been widely released yet.
The Dashcam Viewer release notes u/chaunbot shared through Imgur revealed that nothing had changed about the feature since @esok_mir first tweeted the information on April 3. “Watch saved Dashcam clips or Sentry Mode events directly from the touchscreen with the Dashcam Viewer. To launch, tap the Dashcam icon in the status bar and select “Launch Viewer” while the car is in PARK. If the car is in DRIVE, you will continue to save a clip by tapping the icon,” stated Tesla’s release notes.
The Redditor also revealed that the Sentry Mode icon had indeed been replaced with a new one. Tesla’s previous Sentry Mode icon featured HAL 9000 from the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, some media reports speculated the MGM may have filed a copyright claim on the icon. Whatever the case, Tesla changed the icon to an image that resembles the eye of the turret in the popular Portal video game series.
The Model 3 owner also shared a video of Dashcam Viewer in action, which u/chaunbot uploaded on Imgur. In the video, u/chaunbot shows a recording saved by Dashcam Viewer from the last week of March.
Featured Image Credit: u/chaunbot/Reddit
About the Author
Ma. Claribelle Deveza
Longtime writer and news/book editor. Writing about Tesla allows me to contribute something good to the world, while doing something I love.
