By LIU Jiaxin
Chinese EV maker Li Auto included “sentry mode” in its latest software update on Monday, months later than the company had promised.
LI Liang, eponymous founder and CEO of Li Auto, said that sentry mode had been developed on the OrinX platform which caused power consumption issues that ultimately decreased range and could only be used on max models. The company has since rewritten the code so that sentry mode can be used by on all Li Auto models.
Always on the alert
While sentry mode is activated, a front-facing camera, two side cameras, and a rearview camera continue to monitor the surrounding environment.
Li said in a quickly-deleted social media post that he personally did not like sentry mode much, but since customers wanted it so badly, there was no clear reason for Li Auto not to let them have it.
Based on different types of threats, the system sounds an alarm to indicate that the vehicle is alert to possible criminal activities, much like any other car alarm. The car quickly informs the owner of what’s going on via a mobile app.
With sentry mode enabled, the owner can view the scene through any of the vehicle's cameras at any time. In case of a collision or movement of the vehicle, the owner will know about it immediately.
Look but don’t touch
Tesla was the first automaker to introduce sentry mode, billed as a safety feature, in February 2019. If someone leans on the car, the person will be warned that the events are being recorded.
For more serious threats, such as someone breaking a window, the mode will activate the car alarm, increase the brightness of the central display screen, play loud music, and alert the car owner again.
However, in recent years, privacy concerns have caught the attention of authorities and the media in many countries, including an investigation by the Dutch data protection agency.
The Dutch inquiry pointed out that although sentry mode was intended to capture vandals and thieves who intended to damage or steal the vehicle or its contents, the technology did not discriminate and could record anyone who approached the vehicle, regardless of their intentions, and retain the data for an extended period.
Embarrassing situation
Tesla’s customer privacy notice states that its “recordings remain anonymous and are not linked to you or your vehicle.”
But things got even worse for the EV maker, and in turn for sentry mode, when it was revealed by Reuters earlier this month that between 2019 and 2022, groups of Tesla employees privately shared highly invasive videos and images recorded by customers’ car cameras.
Former employees told Reuters the program showed the location of recordings. Some of the footage caught Tesla customers in embarrassing situations. One ex-employee described a video of a man approaching a vehicle completely naked.