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Dashcams are becoming increasingly important for every driver, recording events on the road in real time for safety or insurance purposes. Many companies occupy this space, but one notable absentee is Google. Dashcams cross several Google properties, including Android Auto and Nest cameras, so it would make perfect sense for the company to join the fray.

A Google dashcam is more attractive than you might think

While it may not seem appropriate at first glance, Google has all the ingredients to create an attractive dashcam product. The company’s design, service backbone and manufacturing prowess could all be put to good use in the space.

Don’t you believe me? Think for a moment about Google’s strengths. A Google dashcam can be easily connected AndroidGoogle Home and Android Auto ecosystems, allowing instant data sharing, device management and seamless functionality between devices and services. That sounds like a brilliant advantage that no other dashcam maker has. I would find it particularly useful if my dashcam could display the video feed on my car’s entertainment screen or be controlled via Assistant.

This interoperability also has advantages at times when safety is paramount. In the event of a collision, the all-seeing dashcam can easily contact emergency services, without the countdown that phones and smartwatches require.

Beyond the apparent ecosystem benefits, Google also knows a thing or two about image capture and processing. Drawing on this expertise shown on Pixel smartphones and Nest cameras, a Google dashcam would have excellent quality in all lighting conditions. The company could use its post-processing technology, such as Night Sight, in combination with high-quality image sensors. A focus on license plate recognition and enhancement would be endlessly helpful when billing your insurance company.

There is room for it The smarts of Gemini AI here too. Whether it is used in the above license plate scenario or to automatically locate key moments during incidents, detect accidents or identify warnings of dangerous driving behavior, artificial intelligence could have great applications. More interestingly, a carefully designed model could potentially provide an early warning system for potential incidents. Granted, many vehicles have advanced systems for this purpose, but an extra layer of protection wouldn’t hurt.

It’s also worth mixing Google’s Nest expertise into the pot. Since dashcams are essentially security cameras for your car, the crossover is clearly visible here. Add parking monitoring and a Google dashcam can be used as a remote Nest camera that connects to your computer smart house monitoring system. Conscious subscribers could benefit from more extensive storage plans, while others could benefit from microSD card support and seamless data transfer to a paired Android phone.

All in all, it sounds like a Google dashcam has so much to offer, but why haven’t we seen one yet?

Understandably, you’re probably hesitant about Google entering another device segment. We’ve seen the company launch other products that showed so much promise, just for slocked them up a few months later.

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

Even if a dashcam product shows potential, it could easily go the same way as Clips. Google would really have to commit to the project before previously scorned users would invest in such a device.

This may be why the company is reluctant to consider the niche space. It might also hesitate to embark on a completely new product manufacturing project if it is not expected to strengthen its balance sheet. Dashcams don’t have the same mass appeal as smartphones, nor the same huge profit margins.

Of course, there are also more practical problems with a Google dashcam. Considering Clips claimed $249 at launch and many of the best dashcams available push that price up, I’d expect Google to charge a hefty amount for its product. A reliable data connection would also be necessary to maximize the feature set I outlined in the first part, which would further contribute to the device’s continued price demand.

Yet I still see the potential of a Google dashcam. It would push the relatively stagnant segment forward, challenge other brands to improve their features and give consumers another option.

At the time of writing this article, there is no indication that Google plans to expand its Nest ecosystem beyond the home. That is a shame and a missed opportunity. Car security is just as important as securing our places of residence; a dashcam does exactly that.

Google has the potential to offer a robust hardware, software and service combination thanks to Android Auto, its cloud storage products, its prowess in image processing and Gemini AI smarts. Combine these facets and you get a very attractive product.

Will we ever see a Google dashcam? Probably not, but I would consider one if the company ever changes its mind.