Advice

List of Cars with Built-in Dashcams

By 05/02/2024 12:00pm
2024 Tesla Cybertruck on a dirt road with a lake and flowers in the background.

Quick Facts to Know About Built-In Dashcams

Although dashcams for cars are still primarily an aftermarket feature, the list of cars and SUVs with factory built-in dashcam capability is expanding. Some players in the space are not surprising. For example, Tesla, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz offer dashcam technology on most of their products. However, some unexpected brands, such as electric vehicle startup Lucid, don’t currently provide video recording capability. Here, we will concentrate on models offering built-in dashcam technology. You can use the jump links we’ve provided to skip ahead.

What Are Built-In Dashcams?

By today’s standards, built-in dashcams aren’t dashcams at all. Instead, other systems function as dashcams with the capability to record and store videos with cameras already located around the vehicle. The factory embeds this capability via software activated with specific options or through a subscription. However, carmakers like Toyota have models with built-in technology capable of integrating factory-built, dealer-installed dashcams to capture and store video. You can dive deeper into dashcams in our article “Dashcam for Cars: Is It Worth It?”

Why Don’t More Cars Offer Dashcams?

Although dashcams can be important in documenting accidents, road-rage incidents, breaches in vehicle security, and other such events, they are still widely considered more of a novelty feature than a must-have technology. As a novelty, their contribution to a new car’s bottom-line purchase price hampers consumer acceptance of built-in dashcams. After all, there is a cost for recording and storing video, even from cameras serving a different primary function, like lane-keeping assist.

As of now, aftermarket dashcams satisfy most consumer demand. Despite that, we expect the number of models with available built-in dashcam capability to continue to grow as consumers, insurance companies, and law enforcement voices demanding it intensify. General Motors, for example, currently doesn’t offer a single vehicle with built-in dashcam capability. Still, a GM spokesperson assured us that the company is exploring dashcam technology in its models.

RELATED: Car Event Data Recorder: The Black Box That Saves Money

Which Cars Offer Built-In Dashcams?

If a factory built-in dashcam appeals to you, there is good news and bad news. First, the good news: Dashcams are being democratized. Mainstream carmakers such as Toyota offer integrated technology for select models. Moreover, those carmakers offering built-in dashcam technology tend to do so on models in various segments. You can find built-in dashcam functionality in multiple vehicles, from small sedans to full SUVs. Now for the bad news: Because demand for built-in dashcams remains rather tepid, most carmakers have yet to embrace the technology. Consequently, gaining a dashcam in most models entails buying and installing an aftermarket unit.

Cars With Built-In Dashcams

Only a handful of major players offer models with built-in dashcam technology. This is a sampling.

  • Mercedes-Benz
    • Except for the AMG GT 4-Door Coupe models, every vehicle in the 2024 Mercedes lineup rolls out of the showroom with built-in dashcam capability.
    • Only the video captured by the front-pointing camera is recorded.
    • You activate the dashcam capability by inserting a USB stick into the appropriate port and triggering a function in the carmaker’s MBUX operating system. The system stores recordings on the USB stick. Later, you can review the video on another device. The USB stick’s capacity determines the amount of video storage.
    • The videos include time-and-speed information and critical data when using the video to reflect a traffic accident, road rage event, or other such incidents. 
  • BMW
    • Drive Recorder is BMW’s dashcam system.
    • Using Drive Recorder requires a subscription to BMW’s ConnectedDrive app and the optional Parking Assistant Plus or Parking Assistant Professional technology.
    • Standard Parking Assistant is BMW’s self-parking technology. Parking Assistant Plus adds additional cameras for enhanced viewing of what surrounds your BMW. Parking Assistant Professional provides remote-control parking.
    • Selectable by the driver, video from one or more of the four surround cameras can be recorded and stored. The system initiates recording automatically or manually, depending on driver setup. When triggered by an accident incident, the system stores 40 seconds of video: 20 seconds before and 20 seconds after an accident.
    • Every 2019-and-later BMW model with the iDrive 7.0 or later operating system, a ConnectedDrive subscription, and the optional Parking Assistant Plus package features Drive Recorder.
    • In 2024, the iX, X2, 7 Series, and 5 Series are among the models that can add Drive Recorder through the Parking Assistant Plus or Parking Assistant Professional. Any other BMW models with Service Pack 2018 or higher, optioned with Parking Assistant Professional, can add Drive Recorder over the air through the ConnectedDrive store.
  • Mini
    • Thanks to Mini’s relationship with BMW, it offers the Mini Drive Recorder.
    • As with BMW’s system, the Mini tech requires the Parking Assistant Plus option and a subscription to the Mini Connected app. It operates much like the BMW version.
    • The redesigned 2024 Mini Cooper qualifies for Drive Recorder. Mini does offer non-qualifying 2024 and previous-model-year Mini vehicles a factory Mini aftermarket stand-alone dashcam purchased through and installed by any Mini franchised dealer. It functions independently from the vehicle’s computers, like any aftermarket dashcam. The 2024 Mini Cooper offers Drive Recorder.
  • Tesla
    • Every Tesla model, including the new Tesla Cybertruck, provides built-in camera recording and storage when a properly formatted 128 GB USB stick is inserted into the vehicle’s USB port.
    • Any Tesla made after 2020 came standard with a preformatted USB stick.
    • Recording feeds from any of Tesla’s four (front, rear, and side) cameras. Recording is automatic in the event of a crash or the horn honking. The driver can manually initiate recording, too. When triggered by a crash or horn honk, 10 minutes of video is automatically stored.
    • Stored video can be watched on the Tesla display screen when parked or on a remote device using the USB stick.
    • When engaged, Sentry Mode continues monitoring movement around the vehicle even when not driving, initiating recording when an object or individual gets within proximity of or touches the vehicle. All 2024 Tesla models offer video recording and storage.

What Some Other Carmakers Offer

  • Subaru
    • 2024 Subaru models with standard EyeSight advanced driver-assistance technology don’t record and store video.
    • Subaru models record and store snapshot images with the EyeSight cameras under certain conditions. For example, suppose the Pre-Collision Braking System or Obstacle Detected Warnings activate, or the airbags deploy. In that case, photo images are captured and stored with related incident data, such as vehicle speed, steering-wheel turning angle, throttle status, brake status, and more. Such recordings are automatic, and the driver can’t control them.
  • Toyota and Lexus Integrated Dashcam
    • Using an in-house-developed proprietary dashcam, particular model Toyota and Lexus vehicles from specific model years, including 2024, are prewired and can be fitted with the dashcam.
    • As Toyota and Lexus introduce new models or redesigns current models, most will also offer dashcam integration.
    • The carmaker tells us that the driver can set the camera to capture video of an exciting drive or initiate storage of an event, even after it has occurred. The camera’s G-force sensors will automatically save video before, during, and after a collision or wake up the camera to record and store video if someone bumps the vehicle while parked.
    • The video records on a secure digital SD card you can remove to view stored videos on other devices.
    • The carmaker also provides downloadable software for PC or Mac systems to display related information like vehicle speed and location. You can install the dashcam in 2022-2024 Toyota model-year versions of Camry, Highlander, Prius, RAV4, RAV4 Prime, Sequoia Hybrid, Sienna Hybrid, Tacoma, Tundra, and Venza. Furthermore, the 2021 Sienna Hybrid and Venza will also accommodate the dashcam.