You just know this feature is going to be used by a frisky couple or a penniless college film student with a traditional, “buy domestic!” uncle.
Cadillac made a big deal about the video rear-view mirror in its 2016 CT6, but now it says drivers can film — and store— video shot by four external cameras. With the range-topping sedan now rolling into dealers, the automaker really wants people to know just what the industry-first system can do.
Don’t lose that memory card if you’re an adventurous driver.
In total, seven cameras are available on the CT6, but only the external ones have recording capability. Those cameras — behind the grille, in each side-view mirror, and in the trunk lid — can film in two different modes, sending the video to a standard SD card located in the trunk.
Yes, if you wanted to, you could film a movie and edit it on your laptop.
A driver can set the cameras to record a 360-degree view when the security system is activated, which would be great for a clandestine stakeout, though Cadillac says it only turns on when the vehicle is tampered with. Privacy concerns strike again.
When the vehicle is underway, a driver can record footage from the front and rear cameras — a feature the automaker says is useful for recording a “memorable drive,” though anyone with blood pumping through their veins probably isn’t thinking about colorful foliage right now. Still, we’re talking about a full-size Cadillac here, albeit one far removed from the broughams of yesteryear.
There’s a security function to that mode as well, given that most collisions are front or rear impact. Dashcams aren’t as popular here as they are in Russia, so it would be nice to be able to hand a police officer (or insurance broker) video proof of your innocence.
[Image: General Motors]
“This is the type of useful feature and enhancement that luxury/premium vehicle drivers are clamoring for!”
— Said no one – ever.
#FireJohan&Uwe&MelodyLee
#MakeCadillacRelevant/AtLeastCompetitive/NotApunchlineAnymoreAgain
This option is sure to appeal to quite a few CT6 purchasers. Both of them will find it useful.
Should be offering a Marshall Amp version with “Surround Sound” and play concert hits from the 1970s.
Call it Mac Fleetwood!
Features like this make it harder for scammers to stage fake accidents and file insurance claims.
+1 I am surprised not more OEMs offer integrated dash cam systems.
Yep. With the popularity and usefulness of dash cams combined with existing cameras on cars, this was inevitable.
They are waiting to see if it’s the next AM/FM/CB or not
FM!
No static at all.
*killer funky jazz riff*
Which happens all the time in North America?
I don’t see the controversy. It’s not much different then attaching a GoPro to the outside and doing the same thing.
If nothing else, the next Gumball 3000 with a CT6 in it won’t be hurting for good footage.
I read an article stating that the Facebook Messenger app isn’t so bad after all. It just craves the same total access to all your stuff as other apps, like Instagram, Snapchat, whatever.
But…is that really a worthwhile argument? Just because everyone does it, it’s okay? I get that this is helpful in an insurance situation. But in a world developing into a big data/total surveillance nightmare, I still prefer to opt out of constant supervision.
I’m just curious…could you be made to hand over data your dashcam recorded, even if it could incriminate you?
I’m thinking OnStar could just do that automatically via satellite with a court order?
Probably.
I was also curious as to whether automakers allow their telematics systems to be used to track cars whose owners are delinquent on their loans.
My guess is yes until the Supreme Pizza rules otherwise; wait… Supreme Court.
Mmm pizza. Pep, bacon, banana peppers.
Almost certainly, yes. As they are not common here, your best hope is that the prosecutor/plaintiff’s attorney doesn’t know you have the recording. I suppose you could argue that the evidence is self-incriminating in a criminal trial, but good luck with that. I’m sure practicing trial attorneys can chime in on that.
Interesting trade off – possibility of vindication v. risk of incrimination. As most drivers break some sort of a traffic law on a daily basis (speeding), the risk might be quite heavy. I can see a scenario where they can sync the video with the vehicle’s data recorder. “Yes, the car you hit ran a red light, but you were traveling at 11mph over the posted speed limit.”
No kidding. Friend was in MVC involving wife of local cop. Friend stashed dashcam & tucked the SD card in her clothing but did not disclose it to responding officer who cited my friend and wrote a (negative) accident report. Video clearly showed cop wife ran red light for right turn on red with iPhone clearly at her ear. My friend firmly believes that if she had given the card to the responding officer it would have been mysteriously lost or erased.
“Evidence” is subject to “subpoena”.
Virtually all dash cam footage I have reviewed has contained evidence of obvious negligence and very often gross negligence on the part of the camera operator, and literally all of those camera operators insisted “nyuh-uh” and/or “But what about them!”.
Motorists seems to usually use dash cams to document that they are victims of others being “in their way” and/or not placing their interests above their own and/or not reading their mind as they maneuver unpredictably according to rules of their own invention… to which they are not subject.
Got an up close and personal look at a CT6 at the concours show this past weekend. Unlike the Mercedes items parked next to the Cadillacs, nobody was looking at them.
-Pearl white paint quality looked great, as Cadillac is good at this. Dan agrees!
-Interior materials did not stand out.
-Leg room not great for a car that size.
-All black interior was quite boring looking.
-At that point my dad announced he really likes the G-Wagon. So we went over to look at that instead.
I also got an up close and personal look at Maseratis there. I can now confirm the Quattroporte uses the exact same door switch panel as the 200.
http://uploads.haystak.com/Production_Templates/Images/2016/Chrysler/16chrysler200c2a/chrysler_16200c2a_doorcontrols.jpg
http://st.motortrend.com/uploads/sites/5/2012/12/2014-Maserati-Quattroporte-V-8-door-panel.jpg
Ughh. 100 large and they take one of the most used (and therefore most often touched, felt, and impression forming) buttons out of a budget mid-sizer? No thanks.
Do corporations, like people, never learn from their mistakes? Next thing you know they’ll be slapping an F-150 steering wheel in there.
http://wordpress.carthrottle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/supercharged_vantage_interior-655×562.jpg
Is it a Taurus GL from the UK? No! It’s a $200,000+ Aston Martin, of course!
Did you go to the Ault Park show on Sunday, in the 93 degree heat?
Did not, but would have rather. Spent the weekend shopping northern (southern for me) suburbs like Lebanon and Liberty Township for quality domeciles, and came away wondering how builders get away with charging mansion money for homes constructed out of toothpicks and layered with cheap Chinese siding (you know, the kind that melts after 5 whole years.)
Did you make it and did I miss anything noteworthy?
I did go, it was incredibly hot but worth it just to see so much nice metal in one place.
Highlights:
-Many Ferraris
-Many BMWs including M1!
-McLaren F1 race car!
-5x GT40
And lucky for you, I can share the whole album for your viewing pleasure if you wish – all 319 pics.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.698829678195.1073741833.63400165&type=1&l=7a1d0272f1
Very awesome! Will crawl through those later with beer in hand.
I’ve never seen cheaper/worse quality residential construction.
I thought it reached a never-to-be-beaten-record in 2005/2006, but I was wrong.
I genuinely feel sorry for even general public purchasers buying $500,000 to $800,000 McMansions in metro-Detroit (Troy/Rochester/Novi/Northville/etc.) because the quality of construction is objectively appalling and because they are still getting bottom of the barrel windows, cabinets, flooring, light fixtures, HVAC, cement work, etc., even at those prices.
I must stay that the absolute cheapest residential construction I’ve ever had the displeasure to see, however, was out west, in Las Vegas/Henderson, Phoenix, some parts of California, where the houses are literally glorified garages on concrete slabs enclosed in stucco over wire mesh and the studs so thin that they’re like 58% of a true 2×4.
I’m convinced that production houses will have made-in-China plastic film where the glass window glazing area used to be in windows within 5 to 7years (*real glass will be an extra upgrade).
This is ridiculously offtopic, but don’t you guys have a building code? Some sort of master craftsman system?
@Sjalabais – yes, there are building codes and inspectors, but they’re loosely enforced (building inspectors love free fishing trips & other greasing of the palms), and even “strict compliance” with the existing codes doesn’t necessarily result in quality in the finished product when the materials used to construct it are garbage and haphazardly applied.
Building codes, if adhered to, ensure that the building does not collapse, flood, catch fire, or poison the occupants within the useful life of the building systems involved. They do not ensure any sort of durability beyond that time or quality of construction. Caveat emptor.
One nice thing about the Seattle area is that construction quality, by and large, tends to range from adequate to good. But most of the new houses are still ticky-tack. And so are the older ones.
Okay, that’s different than what I’m used to then. Bathrooms for example have a long list of product categories and procedures here that ensure a quality which it is hard to wriggle out of. Every window and door needs to meet a certain minimum specification in isolation. Etc.
The Quattroporte and Ghibli interiors are nowhere NEAR as good as they should be. The Ghibli is maybe a bit better than the Jag XF and comparable to a BMW 5. The new MB E absolutely blows it out of the water. The XJ interior is arguably better than the Quattroporte’s despite its rapidly advancing age, and both the S and the new BMW 7 are way better.
Back in the day, I test drove a 944, at the time, big whoop. I couldn’t get past the fact that they used the same door latch as my rat Gen 1 Scirocco.
It was more fun going over an associates’ X type “Jag”, and counting the “parts no one will ever notice” that were the same as my mercury mystique…
Lol, Speedlaw you initially said “Contique,” and I read that and thought HUH!? Figured it was an inside period Ford joke.
Ah, the contour. The first two years were nice, then ford went to save money. They took out the heated mirrors…the glove box light (2 cents !!) I bought a Mystique because it had a six and manual…and got good write ups. A set of SVT shocks and better tires, and it drove well.
Contique was the term of choice for the web site back in the day…
“Passion of the Johan” is screening tonight at 8:00 pm at the SoHo Cadillac Haus of Coffee.
It’s a film noir shot entirely by CT6 cameras that depicts the story of an aspiring auto manufacturer CEO who attempts to copy the 25 year old products of a famous German automaker, but cocks things up badly from start to inglorious end as he hires a former fountain pen company marketer & fashion-obsessed millennial who know nothing of engineering, quality, fabrication or how things work, and just run around trying to hire “social influencers” to be seen with their company’s wares at trendy, hip, hipster filled events and locations.
Sad ending!
Whose playing Johan this time?
I vote Ulrich Thomsen, who’d be similar to his role in The International.
Thurm gets my nod, but McDonough is an ironic choice. Perhaps the latter can star in a film about the ELR and how it failed due to collusion between the Detroit’s auto manufacturers, production problems, and accusations of stock fraud like in “Tucker”.
McDonough is probably too American to be Johan. If he grew a Johan push broom mustache, he would just look like a cowboy. The bad cowboy that would be playing opposite the buddy combo of the Rock and Andy Samberg.
Nathan Thurm
How about Neal McDonough of disastrous ELR ad fame?
I was thinking Neal was on The Green Mile – but maybe no.
IMDB says no. He was in Minority Report, which I haven’t seen in awhile.
Ah yep. He was the coworker cop who didn’t want to arrest Cruise, but could not resist the system and the charms of Colin Farrell.
“Welcome to the GAP Mr. Chang, how do you like those fitted tees!?”
Let’s see, in the past two years Audi brought a new R8, Q2, Q7/SQ7, A4/S4, A5/S5, TT/S/RS. Plus the R18 race car, and a one off 600 Grosser style A8 L Extended that they may do more of. Oh, and they made the most advanced gauge cluster in the industry in their spare time.
Cadillac: V versions of existing cars, SRX replacement, not quite E, not quite S CT6 misfit. And they are boldly continuing with the least advanced, worst gauge cluster in the industry. But do not worry, they are hard at work designing coffee shops!
The Wachowskis said of Cadillac’s lobbying to get into the first Matrix sequel: “They were so desperate.” How little has changed.
Incidentally, the Q2 brings Audi’s crossover count to four. They were also working on a Q6 to take on the X4, but that may have been killed by dieselgate IIRC. Cadillac: 1. It’s cool though, it’s not like anybody is buying crossovers instead of sedans right now or anything.
Johan and Melody are burnishing their resumes at Cadillac’s expense. Hence the wacky forays into esoteric things like coffee shops and whatnot.
“Don’t lose that memory card if you’re an adventurous driver.”
And don’t leave it behind in the car when you trade it.
Q: Why is the SD card in the trunk, instead of a more handy location?
Kinda cool, actually…in this age of GoPro.
This probably will become common if not universal. Thinking about unintended consequences…
Certainly this data would be on the table in criminal investigations. Both in the cases of action against or defense for the driver, but anything going on that the cameras might have captured. Similar to how surveillance video is collected around crime scenes.
It won’t be long before anything that triggers cars’ collision avoidance systems will be uploaded immediately to the police. Which hopefully means the end of drivers bullying other drivers. But also violations such as speeding. All the enforcement action needed is to mail out the tickets.
It’s going to become much more difficult to get away with things, but as usual at the price of privacy. Considering the controversy over CCTV monitoring, that’s nothing compared to this. Surveillance cameras on every vehicle!
You’ll probably see LIDAR scanners similar to those on autonomous vehicles superimposing other vehicles speeds and distances onto the video.
My son’s car has auto-braking and that system might even be able to be tapped to get that sort of data.
And anyone who has driven with a dashcam running knows they make you think twice about aggressive driving or violating the rules of the road.
Driving was so much more fun in the later years of precomputer carbureators and early transistor ignitions; points & condensors always were PITA. Of course, there were 100 million less cars on the “open road” too…smh
Just before K band radar was put into use, but after the first Escorts were on the market…ideal. Even with the 55 Propaganda, the game was easier to play.
Dashcam ? How do you allow for a move which gets you past a clump of minivans, Nissan Rogues, a Prius NOT passing the big truck at the front legitimately going ten under the limit…you get the opening, and go. Your next 5 miles are alone, not at the back of that Group Stupidity Exercise….but you did hit a peak of 85 and cross three lanes (admittedly with signal, and no one was even remotely inconvenienced, they all could still keep texting)….
Your move left you safer overall, but the cam, in the wrong hands, will show the exact opposite.
The downside still outweighs any upside, unless you are UPS or a major City Bus line.
Dude you are reading my mind. Nothing worse than the chump of idiots on the highways and the jackasses who refuse to clear the left most lane. HWP IMHO causes most of the accidents on the roads today. Recently traveling to Kansas City from Florida an idiot was so scared of the thought of being robbed by the police state that he dropped speed from around 70 to 55 in the 70 speed limit. The person behind him didn’t have time to react and rear ended him. America needs major reforms in the mental health and common sense areas more than anything else.
So… you were the “idiot”… or do you really intend to purport you possess the ability to read minds?
You seem to imply your reported event was the fault of a motorist who reduced velocity, not the rear-ending motorist who failed to maintain an assured clear distance and/or adequate situational awareness.
“The first thing we must recognize is that crashes are not accidents.”
-Ricardo Martinez, M.D., NHTSA Administrator, 1997
Just as getting around with horses was so much more fun before those dang cars came along.
The cars haven’t changed so much, but the enforcement has. The old X band radars lived in a world where there wasn’t much, if any, other radar use-the occasional door opener in a commercial strip. Imagine no instant-on radar and a modern detector….for a brief period of time, that was the reality. The old x band guns would give two miles of warning….no laser over the ridge, or sudden burst of Ka on the rear antenna…
I have four external cams on my car, but they’re prone to picking up all kinds of dirt and crap on the lenses. In the rain, forget about the front and rear cameras. I think the rear one has a layer of pollen over it right now.
The advantage of a GoPro behind-the-glass is that the windshield can be cleaned with washer fluid and wipers.