Summary

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For years now, Tesla has been offering a "sentry" mode to put care for your place when the car is parked.But where does this mode come from?How does it work and what are its limitations?

Tesla's sentry mode displayed inside a model 3

Many electric cars are now equipped with cameras, especially for driving assistance functions.A Tesla fresh out of the factory has for example eight, and the manufacturer makes sure that some of them can record events on demand, when the vehicle is parked.This is the "sentinel" mode you may have heard.

We will see together how this feature was born, what it allows to do, its limitations and the way it works in detail.

A solution to stop vandalism

The Tesla Model 3 arrived in the United States in the course of 2017: from the end of 2018, it was already very popular.This was obviously the case in Silicon Valley, California, where some vandals were enjoying a small weakness located at the rear windows of the vehicle.

By breaking the window, access to the trunk was possible by lowering the seats, and regularly the thieves found a booty which particularly interested them: valuables, iPad or other laptops were frequently recovered in seconds without even the alarmcar is triggered.

To go further how to update his Tesla?

To respond to this phenomenon which was gaining momentum, once is not custom, Tesla deployed an update remotely of its vehicle fleet in March 2019 to allow owners not only to have a trace inFrom what had happened, but also for a deafening music to start when an intrusion was detected: the sentinel mode was born.

A legal vagueness

Using the sentinel mode amounts to filming the public highway as soon as the vehicle is parked, since it is not the interior of the vehicle that is watched, but its external surroundings.If the CNIL warns that "individuals can only film the interior of their property" in their file dedicated to video surveillance on the public highway, we can then imagine that the sentinel mode is notauthorized in France.

Tesla autopilot cameras

However, Tesla has not, so to speak, invented anything here, in the sense that dashcam (cameras on board vehicles, and which have been filming the outside) have existed for years, sometimes even a financial incentive on the part of automotive insurersTo equip you.However, if recorded videos are intended to be shared, it becomes necessary to remove all identifiable persons as well as the license plates of other vehicles unless it is for justice or police for example.

How does Tesla's sentinel mode work?

Currently, Tesla's sentry mode uses four cameras to monitor the surroundings of the vehicle: a camera at the front, one on each side, and one back.So, whether you are parked in front or back to a wall does not matter, because you will always have the other side which will be covered by the other camera.

An outdoor camera from a Tesla Model 3

When the sentinel mode is active, if the cameras detect a presence close to the vehicle, a ten -minute recording is saved on a USB storage medium in the car.Simultaneously, the headlights flash and the central screen lights up by displaying a message indicating that the events are filmed.

Tesla's sentry mode displayed inside a model 3 // Source : Bob Jouy pour Frandroid

Most of the time, fortunately, the sentinel mode stops there.There is not even a notification on the Tesla application to indicate that an event has happened.But there may be cases where the trigger goes much further, especially if an intrusion is detected.

In this case, the speakers start playing the Toccata and Fugue from J-S Bach at full power, to alert people nearby, and above all to scare those who were trying to fulfill a mischief.At the same time, a notification will be sent to the application to alert the alarm trigger by the sentinel mode.

Source : Bob Jouy pour Frandroid Source : Bob Jouy pour Frandroid

Today, the owner of a Tesla can choose to automatically activate the sentinel mode or not, and also indicate places of exclusion (domicile, work, or favorite places in navigation).This is a fairly practical function, because it is likely to want to use the sentinel mode in a public parking, but not at home in a closed garage for example.

Sentinel mode limitations

If the theory of the sentinel mode exposed in the previous section seems clear, in practice, there are certain limits.First of all, it should be noted that the sentinel mode only works if the vehicle has at least 20 % battery.Tesla has chosen to impose this threshold to avoid any unpleasant surprises: namely that an owner does not come back to find his car to find it flat.However, it is not uncommon to park for a few minutes with less than 20 % battery: here the sentinel mode could have had interest in the event of degradation, but you have to learn to do without.

In the same way, the anti-super protection of the passenger compartment should be deactivated if the sentinel mode is active, which can put a dilemma to the owner during the hottest periods: let the interior temperature go up to 80 degrees, or soPotentially not having proof of a collision or vandalism?

Sentinel mode settings // Source: Bob Jouy for Frandroid

Then, and that is probably what makes the sentinel mode not always loved by the owners: ghost consumption.Indeed, if your Tesla is parked with the active sentinel mode, it will not put itself on standby, since it must monitor the surroundings.Thus, the vehicle will consume energy to keep awake.You can then find your car with several drum percentages less after a night when it will have gone to the guard.

Unfortunately there are also a lot of false positives: it is a question here of recording events which have no interest, for example leaves which move because of the wind on a tree, or even a light that flashes.When the driver joins his car, he will be welcomed with a most disturbing message, indicating that hundreds of events have been recorded by the sentinel mode, when there was absolutely no suspicious activity.

A unpleasant surprise upon waking with more than 240 sentry // source events: Bob Jouy for Frandroid

How to see the video of the sentinel mode?

To visualize sentry events, it is necessary to use the viewer integrated into the vehicle.You will then see the event from the point of view of the four cameras that recorded at that time, and will be able to go from one view to the other in one click

This is a small limit, but which will undoubtedly disappear soon.It is indeed not possible not possible to remotely visualize the cameras of the car.If you are parked with the active sentry, and want to check that there is nothing suspicious around your Tesla, you will have no other solution than to go to the car, then to usethe famous viewer or withdraw the USB storage support to see what is there.

If we believe the latest rumors, the Tesla application will soon make it possible to view the events of the sentinel mode, which will delight many vehicle owners of the brand.

Application Tesla : elle va vous permettre de surveiller en direct votre véhicule

One of the flagship functions of Tesla, the sentinel mode, will be enriched with a very appreciable functionality.You will soon be able to visualize the cameras of the vehicle directly from your smartphone, to check that everything ... Read more

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