Mount small disposable cameras with short-range flashes into the exterior of the car, flush with the body. The cameras are linked to low-sensitivity sensors. When a significant collision occurs, the sensor is hit and triggers the camera in that zone at the moment of impact. This would give police and insurance agents an accurate depiction of what happened at the moment of impact and in many cases, a snapshot of who was driving the other vehicle.
The film could only be removed/replaced by authorized persons- police, auto dealers, or insurance companies. Keeping the cameras clean would be less hassle the higher they are mounted.
I agree
No opinion
I disagree
Add your comment
This is a cool idea. Somewhere I have read that there are folks pushing for some kind of black box technology for cars, and this will integrate very well with that concept. I hope this is something that we will see soon!
some cars already offer DIGITAL cameras on the rear to see if anyone is behind you before backing out. the footage is streamed to a monitor inside the vehicle. a similar setup could be placed on the other 3 sides of the car to help with blind spots and record info at predetermined times, say the second an impact is sensed.
This is a great idea, except your sensors would trigger a picture only after a collision occurs. It would be more useful to use a digital camera to constantly capture a series of pictures at all times. It would be like a movie at 15 frames per second or more and a collision sensor would then SAVE the recording for analysis. I would like the camera mounted inside the car with a wide field of vision so it sees what the driver sees. I would like the camera to pick up the drivers speed, attitude (drunk? on a cellphone?) his use of the horn, turn signals and wipers, headlights, fog lights whatever he sees, I want to see. You could have the digital memory only downloadable to the authorities by using an access code. This would add very little to the price of a new car, maybe $100.
Yup, it could be like a security camera, just erase data if it is useful. The system that deploys the airbags could be used to detect a collision.
Great idea. The camera itself could be mounted *inside* the car aimed out the driver's window. This would give a nice picture and would avoid cleaning issues as most people keep thier window realtively clean and free of obstructions.
Mount the camera(s) in the rearview mirror- The economy version would simply have a wide-angle, front-facing lens; more expensive models could have lenses pointed inside the vehicle, the highest-priced ones would have 360-degree coverage. It could be powered by a rechargeeable battery pack, have removable memory cards to download movie files to a PC. Pack it with whatever sensors the consumer wants to buy-
This is something that could be retro-fitted to any car or truck with a rearview mirror. It might also be a desirable feature for motorcycles.