You may or may not have noticed a small little camera positioned just above the rear view mirror of the Tesla Model 3. Every Model 3 produced has this camera.
So what does this camera do? Well, as best we can tell at this time, nothing. At least nothing to serve you. There's a theory out there that this camera will be utilized once Full Self Driving is developed and legalized. This camera would serve as your vehicle protection while your Model 3 is out serving as an Uber or Lyft while you're not using it.
When this potential ride sharing function becomes operational, it will be revolutionary. Your vehicle will be able to earn you money while you're not using it and less vehicles will be required on the roads. But this is years away, and there's no known active use for the owner of this camera at this time. Tesla may have access to this camera right now and may or may not be using it for data collection, monitoring for driver alertness being one consideration.
In the mean time I've taken matters into my own hands. I've used these simple camera slider covers on my laptops, monitors, and tablets to block out the camera but still keep it available in a clean and functional way.
These are easy stick on covers that can be slid back and forth as desired. For now I'm leaving mine closed. Perhaps some day Tesla will add this internal camera to the Sentry Mode camera list (as well as the rear camera). Until then there appears to be no benefit of having this camera peaking into my car.
If you have any idea what this camera is currently being used for or want to see it used for something comment on our Tweet and retweet it and maybe Tesla or Elon will make some expedited usefulness of it.
