First look: Diminutive Dride Zero dash cam aims at Apple-esque setup and use

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in General Discussion
Dride is an Israeli startup set up with the intent to make iPhone-compatible dashcams easy to install and to use with the ultimate goal of making people drive safer, and AppleInsider paid them a visit.




We've all seen videos of near-death experiences from Russian dash cams, where someone miraculously survives an encounter with a runaway truck, but it's rare to see the videos of the guy that cuts you off, because existing dash cams make it too difficult to get the video out and share it. Dride wants to change all that.

Dride actually makes a few things. DrideOS is a Linux distribution that runs on Dride Zero dash cams. Secondly, there's the Dride app, which runs on iOS and Android and works with the company's Wi-Fi dash cam.




Finally, there's the Dride cloud, where the dashcam videos are hosted. With Dride hosting the video themselves, it's easier to share the link to it rather than sharing 300MB of video to someone.

Look at how small that camera is. It's not obtrusive at all.
Look at how small that camera is. It's not obtrusive at all.


Dash cams are bulky and take up a lot of space on the dash. Dride's version is much thinner and can mount in front of the rear-view mirror. It's equipped with a status LED, a button for triggering videos to be saved, an accelerometer, and the camera, all in a flat and attractive package that stays out of the way, as compared to extant bulky camera setups.

The parade of normal-sized dash cams with Dride Zero on the right
The parade of normal-sized dash cams with Dride Zero on the right


So, with the technology problem licked, how does Dride make people drive more safely? We spoke to founder Yossi Neiman, who told us that one possibility is that a Dride user could upload the video of someone cutting them off anonymously to the police, who could then issue a ticket to the misbehaving driver caught on video -- a feature that is currently being tested in Dride's native Israel.

The Dride package is also very maker-friendly. Besides just buying the finished product and slapping it on your dash, it's also possible to bring your own Raspberry Pi Zero, and get their HAT (hardware attached on top) and the 3D printed case, and assemble it yourself.

While visiting Dride, we went for a drive with Neiman and saw how diminutive the camera is. It was easy to pair our iPhone 6 with the camera by joining it's Wi-Fi network. The video streamed to the camera app immediately, and we could scroll the history of video stored on the camera, and send it using the iOS share sheet to Messages, WhatsApp, Facebook and other messaging apps, just as you'd expect.

If all that sounds a little anti-climactic, that's the sort of thing that's desirable: Dride wants it to just work. Extending the ease of setup, and the surveilled angles of the car, Neiman also mentioned that it will be possible to place a camera in the rear window and they'll both sync with the Dride app.

If you're interested in checking out the dash cam, cloud, and app, go to Dride's Web site to learn more. Dride Zero's pre-order pricing is set at $69.


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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 22
    TomSawyerTomSawyer Posts: 4unconfirmed, member
    Nobody brought a ruler or a common item like an Apple product to provide scale to the repeated claims of incredible smallness?
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 2 of 22
    williamhwilliamh Posts: 1,032member
    I hope the ease of sharing doesn’t encourage foolish driving rather than safe driving. In any case, I find a dash cam to be a very worthwhile accessory. If you’ve ever been pulled over for something you don’t think you’ve done, it’s your word against the officer’s. Unless you have some evidence to support your claim, you probably lose.  In many cases, one might be SURE they didn’t speed or did stop at the stop
    sign etc.  if you can see you were in the wrong, that’s good too. 

    In in one instance I was in a major collision when another driver lost control of her car. They brought up the possibility of some other driver hitting her and taking off etc.  (not supported by any facts and dismissed anyway) but would have been helpful to have video.   Since then, always driving with dash cams.  I’ve had a few types, now an expensive Garmin GPS with dashcam.  Getting video off is a sticking point that this unit seems to address. The price is very attractive. I’d like to see video quality. 

    Bottom line though, whether you get this or some other, get thee a dashcam. 
    TomSawyerStrangeDaysracerhomie3welshdogjony0
  • Reply 3 of 22
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member
    Not diminutive in my opinion. Still looks like an eye sore but smaller than the other cams. If it was totally hidden behind the rear view mirror I would say it is diminutive. 
    edited December 2017 TomSawyer
  • Reply 4 of 22
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    williamh said:
    I hope the ease of sharing doesn’t encourage foolish driving rather than safe driving. In any case, I find a dash cam to be a very worthwhile accessory. If you’ve ever been pulled over for something you don’t think you’ve done, it’s your word against the officer’s. Unless you have some evidence to support your claim, you probably lose.  In many cases, one might be SURE they didn’t speed or did stop at the stop
    sign etc.  if you can see you were in the wrong, that’s good too. 

    In in one instance I was in a major collision when another driver lost control of her car. They brought up the possibility of some other driver hitting her and taking off etc.  (not supported by any facts and dismissed anyway) but would have been helpful to have video.   Since then, always driving with dash cams.  I’ve had a few types, now an expensive Garmin GPS with dashcam.  Getting video off is a sticking point that this unit seems to address. The price is very attractive. I’d like to see video quality. 

    Bottom line though, whether you get this or some other, get thee a dashcam. 
    Some car insurance companies will give you a discount if you have a dash cam fitted.  
    williamhjony0
  • Reply 5 of 22
    zimmiezimmie Posts: 651member
    Keep in mind that in a lot of states in the U.S., it is illegal to attach anything to your windshield beyond the factory equipment and any state-mandated stickers (inspection, registration, and so on).

    https://blog.proclipusa.com/are-suction-cup-windshield-mounts-legal-in-your-state/
    SpamSandwich
  • Reply 6 of 22
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    I suspect the user interface might need some cleaning up.

    In the first picture, "Upload To Cloud" must be a button, but it doesn't look like a button. Also, it just looks wrong in any instruction or title to capitalize a preposition like "to". They should use all caps or follow normal style.

    Also, what's with the wide-angle fisheye lens? Is this normal for dashcams? It creeps me out visually — it turns every scene into a crime scene, meaning you can't watch your footage just as a record of your travels.

    TomSawyer
  • Reply 7 of 22
    vmarksvmarks Posts: 762editor
    TomSawyer said:
    Nobody brought a ruler or a common item like an Apple product to provide scale to the repeated claims of incredible smallness?
    Sorry, I couldn't put my iPhone 6 next to it while I was taking pictures with my iPhone 6.
    TomSawyer
  • Reply 8 of 22
    vmarksvmarks Posts: 762editor
    flaneur said:
    I suspect the user interface might need some cleaning up.

    In the first picture, "Upload To Cloud" must be a button, but it doesn't look like a button. Also, it just looks wrong in any instruction or title to capitalize a preposition like "to". They should use all caps or follow normal style.

    Also, what's with the wide-angle fisheye lens? Is this normal for dashcams? It creeps me out visually — it turns every scene into a crime scene, meaning you can't watch your footage just as a record of your travels.

    They're non-native English speakers. I'm sure they'll be happy to accept your suggestions for copyedits. I already told them that they shouldn't use the word "click" when they mean for users to "tap" on the interface.
  • Reply 9 of 22
    vmarksvmarks Posts: 762editor
    williamh said:
    I hope the ease of sharing doesn’t encourage foolish driving rather than safe driving. In any case, I find a dash cam to be a very worthwhile accessory. If you’ve ever been pulled over for something you don’t think you’ve done, it’s your word against the officer’s. Unless you have some evidence to support your claim, you probably lose.  In many cases, one might be SURE they didn’t speed or did stop at the stop
    sign etc.  if you can see you were in the wrong, that’s good too. 

    In in one instance I was in a major collision when another driver lost control of her car. They brought up the possibility of some other driver hitting her and taking off etc.  (not supported by any facts and dismissed anyway) but would have been helpful to have video.   Since then, always driving with dash cams.  I’ve had a few types, now an expensive Garmin GPS with dashcam.  Getting video off is a sticking point that this unit seems to address. The price is very attractive. I’d like to see video quality. 

    Bottom line though, whether you get this or some other, get thee a dashcam. 
    Download the app? It works with three models of Garmin cameras, I think.
  • Reply 10 of 22
    im interested.  But the site doesn’t say expected ship date. 
  • Reply 11 of 22
    chabigchabig Posts: 641member
    zimmie said:
    Keep in mind that in a lot of states in the U.S., it is illegal to attach anything to your windshield beyond the factory equipment and any state-mandated stickers (inspection, registration, and so on).

    https://blog.proclipusa.com/are-suction-cup-windshield-mounts-legal-in-your-state/
    This isn't that. It's up behind the mirror where it in no way intrudes into the driver's field of view.
  • Reply 12 of 22
    williamhwilliamh Posts: 1,032member
    vmarks said:
    williamh said:
    I hope the ease of sharing doesn’t encourage foolish driving rather than safe driving. In any case, I find a dash cam to be a very worthwhile accessory. If you’ve ever been pulled over for something you don’t think you’ve done, it’s your word against the officer’s. Unless you have some evidence to support your claim, you probably lose.  In many cases, one might be SURE they didn’t speed or did stop at the stop
    sign etc.  if you can see you were in the wrong, that’s good too. 

    In in one instance I was in a major collision when another driver lost control of her car. They brought up the possibility of some other driver hitting her and taking off etc.  (not supported by any facts and dismissed anyway) but would have been helpful to have video.   Since then, always driving with dash cams.  I’ve had a few types, now an expensive Garmin GPS with dashcam.  Getting video off is a sticking point that this unit seems to address. The price is very attractive. I’d like to see video quality. 

    Bottom line though, whether you get this or some other, get thee a dashcam. 
    Download the app? It works with three models of Garmin cameras, I think.
    Maybe there's another app I am not aware of, I have 2 Garmin apps.  The problem isn't the lack of an app, it's that I need to connect the SD card or the device itself  to a computer to get stuff off of it.
     
    Edit: I see that newer Garmin devices allow you to transfer footage by Wifi.  Mine doesn't do that.   If Wifi transfer works reasonably well, Garmin would compete well with this Dride dashcam, though the intro price for Dride is quite a bit cheaper than the cheapest Garmin.
    edited December 2017
  • Reply 13 of 22
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    TomSawyer said:
    Nobody brought a ruler or a common item like an Apple product to provide scale to the repeated claims of incredible smallness?
    4.9x1.5x0.6 inches per the referenced website. I'd call it slender not necessarily small. 
    TomSawyer
  • Reply 14 of 22
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    I'd like to see if this cam can function as a (temporary) backup camera. I have a trailer and it would be nice to attach it to the back of the trailer to help backing up into campsites.
    TomSawyer
  • Reply 15 of 22
    vmarks said:
    TomSawyer said:
    Nobody brought a ruler or a common item like an Apple product to provide scale to the repeated claims of incredible smallness?
    Sorry, I couldn't put my iPhone 6 next to it while I was taking pictures with my iPhone 6.
    But...you’re a news media publisher. You don’t have tools? Equipment? Dedicated camera? 
    SpamSandwichTomSawyer
  • Reply 16 of 22
    zimmiezimmie Posts: 651member
    chabig said:
    zimmie said:
    Keep in mind that in a lot of states in the U.S., it is illegal to attach anything to your windshield beyond the factory equipment and any state-mandated stickers (inspection, registration, and so on).

    https://blog.proclipusa.com/are-suction-cup-windshield-mounts-legal-in-your-state/
    This isn't that. It's up behind the mirror where it in no way intrudes into the driver's field of view.
    Doesn't matter. It is illegal to mount it on the windshield itself in 33 states and DC, and four mandate low placement (so this wouldn't work). Eight states say it can't impede the view of the road (so this would be legal), and five allow windshield-mounted things.

    So this is only legal to use in 13 of 50 U.S. states (13 of 51 if you count Washington DC).
  • Reply 17 of 22
    zimmie said:
    chabig said:
    zimmie said:
    Keep in mind that in a lot of states in the U.S., it is illegal to attach anything to your windshield beyond the factory equipment and any state-mandated stickers (inspection, registration, and so on).

    https://blog.proclipusa.com/are-suction-cup-windshield-mounts-legal-in-your-state/
    This isn't that. It's up behind the mirror where it in no way intrudes into the driver's field of view.
    Doesn't matter. It is illegal to mount it on the windshield itself in 33 states and DC, and four mandate low placement (so this wouldn't work). Eight states say it can't impede the view of the road (so this would be legal), and five allow windshield-mounted things.

    So this is only legal to use in 13 of 50 U.S. states (13 of 51 if you count Washington DC).
    I find 33 hard to believe. Citation, please.
  • Reply 18 of 22
    zimmie said:

    Doesn't matter. It is illegal to mount it on the windshield itself ..
    Couldn't you just stick it on the back of the mirror. You can get dash cams that are integrated in a mirror that goes over the existing one.



    Problem solved!?

    And they should make an external button, that you can stick somewhere, like the Flic, instead of having to reach behind the mirror. But they could probably enable that functionality in the app pretty easily.

    edited December 2017
  • Reply 19 of 22
    zimmie said:
    Keep in mind that in a lot of states in the U.S., it is illegal to attach anything to your windshield beyond the factory equipment and any state-mandated stickers (inspection, registration, and so on).

    https://blog.proclipusa.com/are-suction-cup-windshield-mounts-legal-in-your-state/

    I don’t care. 

    I’ll take a fix it ticket while the other driver gets cited for causing the accident based on the video recorded. 
    williamhTomSawyer
  • Reply 20 of 22
    williamhwilliamh Posts: 1,032member
    rob53 said:
    I'd like to see if this cam can function as a (temporary) backup camera. I have a trailer and it would be nice to attach it to the back of the trailer to help backing up into campsites.
    Seems like it will. Something On the website suggested as much.  If not, garmin has a purpose built rear-view camera that will do what you want, activated by the backup lights when they power on. 

    I havent bought it because ... I’m kind of cheap and it’s kind of expensive (for what it is), around $160. 
    TomSawyer
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