Samsara users with explicit live streaming permissions can initiate a live stream for vehicles that are on active trips. Depending on the configuration for your organization, live streaming consists of some combination of outward-facing video, inward-facing video, and in-cab audio. Samsara only uploads footage to the cloud if you specifically retrieve a snippet from the Video Retrieval page.
Without a Live Streaming license, each CM3x device includes five minutes of Live Streaming per month. Any unused minutes do not rollover to the next month and cannot be transferred or pooled to another device. If you require more than five minutes per camera per month, you can add the purchase of an additional Live Streaming license.
Before you initiate a live stream, perform the following checklist:
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Review the Live Stream Privacy Considerations
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Review the Live Stream Requirements
After you have completed the live stream checklist above, you can Initiate a Live Stream.
Before you enable Live Streaming, Samsara recommends that you complete a Data Privacy Impact Assessment (DPIA) even if you have completed this assessment previously. This assessment analyzes the potential for additional privacy risks to data subjects from live streaming.
For example, the assessment determines:
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Whether a specific privacy policy applies which limits the use of live streaming to certain situations or by certain managers.
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Requirements for transparency notices, such as signage and privacy policy updates, and informing drivers and other road users that footage may be captured/live streamed in certain situations.
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Built-in limitations to live streaming, such as restrictions on simultaneous viewing and monthly time limits.
For a DPIA template, please reach out to your Samsara Account Representative or contact sales.
Samsara also recommends that you place a notice outside of your vehicles to notify passersby of the possibility of recording.
To initiate a live stream, ensure:
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The vehicle has a CM31 or CM32.
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Your network is configured to allow outbound UDP traffic to any IP and port greater than or equal to 1024 as well as return traffic and NAT is configured to be endpoint independent. Contact your IT network specialist to confirm these settings.
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The vehicle is on a trip traveling at a speed of five mph or more.
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The vehicle is in range of a working cellular signal.
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The CM3X device is within the data limits of your Live Streaming license.
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You have a custom role with Live Stream permissions.
Due to privacy concerns, default roles do not include live stream permissions. To assign live streaming permissions to a user, you must first create a custom role and then apply the role to the user. To create a custom role with live streaming permissions, perform the following workflow:
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Select the Settings icon (
) at the bottom of your Fleet menu to view dashboard settings. -
In Organization > Users & Roles > Roles, select + Add role.
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Click into the Name your role field and enter a descriptive name.
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To create a user with the minimum permissions required for Live Streaming access, expand the following categories to enable the minimum permissions:
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Cameras > View: Live Streaming
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Essentials > View: Drivers, Gateways, Location Data, and Reports
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For a user with administrative or full administrative permissions, enable View or Edit permissions for each section.
Note
Your organization requires at least one Full Admin using the default role. The lack of a Full Admin will prevent your current admins from changing some org settings or inviting new users (if the invited user has any settings or billing permissions).
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Save the custom role.
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Select the Settings icon (
) at the bottom of your Fleet menu to view dashboard settings. -
Select Organization > Users & Roles > Users, locate the user to apply the role.
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Select more options ( ... ) > Edit.
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Select the newly created role from the menu and apply the level of access (Entire Organization or select individual assets).
The role permissions display for the role Live Streaming:
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Save the changes to apply the role to the user.
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If you experience issues with the creation of a Live Streaming user or if access terminates suddenly, contact your IT network specialist to confirm all Live Stream Requirements are met.
Before you initiate a live stream, ensure that you meet all Live Stream Requirements.
Use the following workflow to enable Live Streaming capabilities for your entire fleet or Configure Individual Vehicle Dash Cam Settings to enable settings for specific vehicles:
When you initiate or end a live streaming session, the camera plays the following in-cab audio alerts play for the driver:
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“Live stream started."
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”Live stream ended.”
If you initiate a live stream, and then stop the live stream, it can take 10 seconds before you can restart the stream. To initiate a live stream, perform the following workflow:
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From your Fleet Overview (
), select a vehicle that is currently on a trip and click View Live Stream on the still image. 
It can take approximately five seconds for the live stream to begin. A full screen view will pop up by default. This screen is black until the stream starts and displays the vehicle name, current time, and a live indication in the top left corner.
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Select View on map to continue streaming on the map view.
Every one minute, a pop up prompts you to confirm Are you still watching?. If there is no response within 30 seconds, the stream ends automatically.
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To end the stream, return to View Live Stream and click Stop in the top right.
