In-car cameras are quickly becoming essential for every driver, recording road events in real time for safety or insurance purposes. Many companies occupy this space, but Google is a notable absentee. Onboard cameras intersect with several Google properties, including Android Auto and Nest cameras, so it would make perfect sense for the company to join the fray.

A Google Dash Cam Is More Attractive Than You Think

While it might not seem appropriate at first, Google has all the ingredients to create a compelling dash cam product. The company’s design, service infrastructure and manufacturing prowess could all be leveraged in this space.

You don’t believe me? Think for a moment about Google’s strengths. A Google dash cam could easily plug into AndroidGoogle Home and Android Auto, enabling easy data sharing, device control, and seamless functionality between devices and services. This sounds like a brilliant advantage that no other dash cam manufacturer has. I would find it particularly useful if my dash cam could display its video feed on my vehicle’s entertainment screen or be controlled via Assistant.

This interoperability also has benefits in times when security is paramount. In the event of a collision, the on-board overview camera could easily contact emergency services without the countdowns required by phones and smart watches.

Beyond the apparent ecosystem benefits, Google also knows a thing or two about image capture and processing. Building on this expertise highlighted on Pixel smartphones and Nest cameras, a Google dash cam would have excellent quality in all lighting conditions. The company could use its post-processing technology, like Night Sight, combined with high-quality image sensors. Focusing on number plate recognition and improvement would be infinitely helpful when making a claim with your insurance company.

There is room for The intelligence of Gemini AI here too. Whether used in the license plate scenario above or to automatically identify key moments during incidents, detect accidents or identify dangerous driving alerts, artificial intelligence would have great uses. More interestingly, a carefully constructed model could potentially provide an early warning system for potential incidents. Certainly, many vehicles have sophisticated systems for this purpose, but another layer of protection wouldn’t hurt.

It’s also worth mixing Google’s Nest expertise into the pot. Since dash cameras are actually security cameras for your car, the crossover is clear to see here. Add parking monitoring and a Google dash camera could be used as an external Nest camera that plugs into your smart home monitoring system. Savvy subscribers might benefit from more expansive storage plans, while others might benefit from microSD card support and smooth data transfers to a paired Android phone.

All in all, a Google dash cam seems to have so much going for it, but why haven’t we seen one yet?

Naturally, you probably doubt Google will move into another device segment. We’ve seen the company launch other very promising products, only to get rid of them.lock them up a few months later.

Unsurprisingly, it enjoyed a brief stint in the smart camera space. Remember Google Clips? Launched in 2018, the small clip-on wearable camera identified and recorded footage of key moments in your life using machine learning. Less than two years later, Google abandoned the project. Sure, it suffered from first-gen flaws, but it had potential. You can see some (heavily compressed) GIFs of the clips captured during our review below.

Even if a dash cam product has potential, it could easily follow the same path as Clips. Google would need to truly commit to the project before previously scorned users invest in such a device.

This may be why the company is hesitant to consider this niche. It might also be hesitant to launch a completely new product manufacturing project if it is not expected to improve its balance sheet. Dash cameras don’t have the same mass appeal as smartphones, nor the same huge profit margins.

Of course, a Google dash cam also presents more practical problems. Given that Clips demanded $249 at launch and many of the best dash cameras available inflate that price, I would expect Google to charge a premium for its product. A reliable data connection would also be required to maximize the feature set I outlined in the first section, thus adding to the device’s current pricing requirements.

Nonetheless, I still see the potential of a Google in-car camera. This would move the relatively stagnant segment forward, forcing other brands to improve their features and giving consumers another option.

As of this writing, there is no indication that Google plans to expand its Nest ecosystem beyond the home. It’s a shame and a missed opportunity. Car safety is as important as the safety of our homes; a dash cam goes a long way towards this.

Google has the potential to offer a robust combination of hardware, software and services thanks to Android Auto, its cloud storage products, its image processing prowess and the intelligence of Gemini AI. Combine these facets and you will get a very compelling product.

So, will we ever see a Google dashboard camera? Probably not, but I would consider one if the company ever changes its mind.