Preface
Whenever I take a taxi, Uber, or Lyft outside, I observe what kind of dashcams the drivers use, but most of them are using those only to record the front or rear footage. Ignoring the importance of in-cabin recording, the interior of a ridesharing vehicle should also consider an alternative business place. It is inevitable to encounter drunk, vomiting, mentally unstable passengers, or someone stretching their feet over you, attempting to attack drivers, and other inappropriate behaviors. Therefore, it is essential to record the business status. When there is a dispute, video and sound are the best tools to protect the driver, so selecting the dash cam is very important. To meet the needs of commercial vehicles, we will share a few points today about how to choose a commercial dashcam for ridesharing operators. Don’t miss it, drivers, and let’s get started.
1. CAMERA OUTSIDE AND INSIDE THE VEHICLE (ROAD VIEW AND CABIN VIEW)
As mentioned in the preface, getting video footage on the road is essential. The most important thing for ridesharing drivers is that there should be a camera inside the cabin that can specifically record the footage inside the car (Cabin view). This is not to ask the driver to install an additional dashcam for in-vehicle security. There are too many devices on the windshield (navigation, mobile phone, dash cam, etc.).
Therefore, it is best to find a commercial dashcam that records footage outside (Road view) and inside (Cabin view) the car simultaneously. In addition to saving windshield space, it also keeps the trouble of extra cables. There is another advantage of integrating cabin recording on the same device. Suppose there is a dispute in the future. In that case, the images inside and outside the vehicle will be recorded in one unit simultaneously. The video files will be easier to find and compare, reducing the time it takes to clarify the problem. Allows drivers to focus on safe driving.
2. APPROPRIATE VIDEO RESOLUTION
There are many resolutions of the dash cam on the market, 1080P, 2K, 2.5K, 2.7K, 4K, etc.; the numbers are so varied, how do people choose? Is it better to directly pursue the most significant number? It’s easy to fall into the blind spot and be misled by simply looking at the numbers. It’s not that the bigger the number, the better it can meet the needs of drivers. We think an excellent ridesharing dash cam can completely restore the dispute of the higher the resolution, the better the case. The description of the sending process is more straightforward, but 1080P is also graded; a good 1080P image is enough to restore the entire incident, and the number of saved footage is more than that of higher-resolution products. The disadvantage is that the capacity of a single file is too large. For a ridesharing vehicle, it is common to run 8-10 hours a day. If the span of a single file is too large, it will start to overwrite the old files at once, so the protection for drivers is not enough. Now, 1080P resolution would be a more suitable choice.
But also pay attention to whether the in-cabin camera is also 1080P! Many dual lenses dash cams on the market have poor video footage inside the car. Before buying a dash cam, it is best to search for the product video on YouTube to ensure that the outside and inside cameras can provide good images.
3. ADJUSTABLE ANGLE LENS
The angle-adjustable lens mentioned here is not the one that can be adjusted up and down. The lens adjusted up and down is not very helpful for actual use. Since most dash cam brackets can adjust the angle up and down, the lens adjusted up and down is insignificant.
A laterally adjustable lens is what helps drivers. Why? In those dispute videos, drunk or unreasonable passengers will get out of the car and run to the driver’s side to behave aggressively or even aggressively toward the driver. If the camera shot in the vehicle cannot be adjusted or can only be adjusted up and down, then only the situation of the driver being attacked can be video. There is no way to film the entire face of the perpetrator further, so at this time, if the camera shot in the car can be adjusted horizontally, you can Immediately change the camera to the side of the driver’s seat, record the face and behavior of the perpetrator, and make it easy for the other party to be held accountable after reporting the incident.
Seeing this, you may think you can take out your mobile phone to record, but these things often happen instantly. It may take more than 10 seconds to find the mobile phone and turn on the camera, and essential pictures may be missed, so adjust directly. The lens on the dashcam only takes one second to instantly turn the lens to the angle that needs to be shot to avoid missing essential pictures.
4. INFRARED ADJUSTED NIGHT MODE
Is having an in-cabin / dual lens dash cam good enough already? It also depends on whether it can record clearly at night. Many dashcams on the market claim to have night mode clarity for in-cabin recording, but these are not very helpful for recording at night, and the streets at night are still. There are streetlights or sign lights for auxiliary lighting, but it is difficult for these light sources to enter the car. In addition, the front, rear, left, and right windows are also pasted with thermal insulation paper. The light transmittance of these thermal insulation papers may be only 30%. About 40% of the light source environment in the car at night is terrible. Rear-seated passengers are probably all black without the auxiliary light source.
Therefore, a professional dash cam for ridesharing must be equipped with infrared lights for auxiliary lights so that the images inside the car can be captured at night. However, you should also pay attention to whether the infrared light is natural or not. You can judge from the reference video provided by the manufacturer. If the night image is not cut into black and white and the daytime image is not reddish or purple, it may be fake because infrared belongs to Invisible light; to record the light source in this frequency band, the lens needs to be specially treated. The infrared filter in the lens needs to be removed to capture the infrared light, and the fill light will work. However, due to the removal of the infrared filter, there is also infrared LED distortion with sunlight during the day so that the image will be slightly reddish and purple. At night, because the infrared light is directly illuminated at close range, the picture will be full of purple coloring if the image is not converted to black and white. It may cause a color distortion to watch.
In addition, is the more infrared LED, the better? Too many infrared LEDs will cause the image to be overexposed.
5. SOUND RECORDING QUALITY
Finally, why mention sound recording? Isn’t sound recording a function that every dash cam will have? Yes, that’s right, sound recording is a function that is available on all dash cams on the market, but the quality of the sound recording is also divided into good and bad.
In addition, sometimes, the sound recording function is turned off because of privacy issues or when state law prohibits sound recording as admissible. Drivers should check whether proper recording function is allowed before going on the road.
For ride-sharing drivers, the sound is as vital as the image, and when most of them are in disputes with passengers. It is essential to record the conversation during the conflict, which will directly affect the outcome of the judgment. Therefore, it is best to include the recording quality in the evaluation when purchasing a driving recorder. While checking the image quality, you should also pay attention to sound reproduction.
IN CONCLUSION
The above five points are the parts that ride-sharing drivers should pay attention to when choosing a dash cam. The details are hidden in the devil. The direction of selecting a dashcam for ride-sharing is entirely different from that of an ordinary driver’s dashcam. After all, the car is the driver’s tool for making a living. More than one-third of the day is spent on your vehicle, which is tough, so choosing a suitable dash cam is essential. A small video clip can protect drivers’ rights, a cost-effective investment!