Google is working on making your Android phone into a dashcam

There are many ways to travel and commute, but cars remain the most widely used mode of transport worldwide. Sadly, this is also the type of transport that results in the most accidents each year, which is why gadgets like dashcams are a useful tool to have if you drive around a lot.

But why buy a dashboard camera if you can use your phone to record? Google seems to have asked its engineers the same question, at least judging from a recently discovered feature appropriately dubbed "Dashcam." (via 9to5Google)

When enabled, the Dashcam feature appears as a shortcut on the Personal Safety's homepage, below the "Be prepared" section. Once you tap on it, you can start recording video with or without sound. You can view previous recording sessions, although they disappear three days after being shot unless saved. If they are not manually saved, then the app deletes them automatically.



To preserve space, the footage is compressed to take up 30MB per minute, and it's capped at a maximum of 24 hours of recording. Google has also enabled users to turn off the screen while the phone records, which would help to conserve battery and avoid overheating.

Users can also use the phone for other tasks while it is recording — like navigation, for example. Although, we suspect this might prove a bit difficult if it is a particularly hot/sunny day outside.

A bright screen, a constant GPS signal, AND a constantly recording camera does sound like the perfect trifecta to make the phone reach dangerously high temperatures, so it would be interesting to see how Google handles this inevitable issue. Multitasking scenarios such as this one might require a cooler environment, especially if you are charging the phone at the same time (even more so if it is being wirelessly charged).

The Dashcam feature Google is working on without a doubt sounds like an exciting idea. I mean, who wouldn't want to catch that impressively bad driver that just hit them in 4K (or maybe a UFO that flew above you)? Jokes aside, though, it is not without its setbacks, so we can't be sure it will launch anytime soon.

Additionally, if the Dashcam feature does come to fruition, there is some chance that it will come to more Android phones than just Google's Pixels, as there is apparently no exclusivity mentioned anywhere in the feature's text.