Samsara Dash Cams are designed to improve fleet safety, exonerate drivers, and lower accident-related costs. By default, the Samsara CM series Dash Cam records when the Vehicle Gateway (VG) detects that the vehicle is on a trip and will continue to record for 10 minutes after a trip ends.
A trip is defined as traveling from a starting point to a stop or destination. By default, a trip begins when your vehicle achieves a speed of at least 5 mph and ends when the vehicle speed remains below 5 mph / 8 kph for 5 minutes or when your vehicle crosses a state or national border.
For fleets with slow-moving vehicles or equipment, you can configure a lower vehicle movement threshold to begin tracking and detection earlier at a slower speed of 1 mph / 1.6 kph. For more information or to configure this setting, see Set the Trip Activity Threshold.
By default, the dash cam uploads a still image to the cloud every few minutes. If enabled, users with explicit permissions can initiate live streams of road-facing and inward-facing video along with optional in-cab audio. To view or modify your dash cam settings and recording options, see Dash Cam Settings Overview.
Videos are uploaded and saved during the following circumstances:
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When a detection meets the minimum criteria of a safety event as part of Safety Event Review in the Safety Inbox. Safety events include the following detection types:
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Harsh Event Detection: Crash, Harsh Braking, Harsh Acceleration, and Harsh Turning events
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AI Event Detection: Distracted Driving, Tailgating, Forward Collision Warning (beta), and Policy Violations (Beta)
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Other safety event detections: Rolling Stops
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During Video Retrieval: Users with Video Retrieval permissions can manually request historical video be uploaded and saved to the Samsara Cloud. The amount of historical footage that is available for retrieval varies by camera model and Dash Cam Storage Capacity. If desired, you can adjust the default Dash Camera Settings to further extend total storage capacity in exchange for a decrease in video quality.
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When Live Streaming: Live Streaming footage is only uploaded and saved to the Samsara Cloud if you specifically request a clip using Video Retrieval.
