Front-facing cameras for your car can come in several different formats.
Android Headunits
Some Android headunits have an input for a front-facing camera, often on a USB connection. These car front cameras record the road ahead of the journey, and the footage is stored in memory for subsequent playback should the footage be needed, say in the event of a collision.
Front Footage
The use of the front camera in this instance can be called a car front camera DVR – Digital Video Recorder. The DVR footage can be given to insurance companies or law enforcement to show what happened rather than what was remembered. Some insurance companies even give a discount if you have a front-camera DVR function available, so be sure to let them know on your next renewal.
Front Car Camera with more
A front-facing camera can also help with parking, just like the rear-facing camera can show more than the driver can see. Combining the rear-facing camera with the front-facing camera with a left and right camera in the mirrors is the beginning of a 360 camera system. Add a 360 processor box, or with the latest, most powerful Android head units available now, these cameras connect directly to the head unit. You get a front car camera backing up the camera with a left and right to make a complete 360 birds-eye.
Non-android options
If you are not ready for an Android headunit but would still like to record the view from the car’s front camera, then a simple dash camera DVR would suffice. These small front-facing cameras can attach to the windscreen or behind the driver’s mirror and record the automatically recorded footage to a tiny memory card fitted inside. A clever feature of these ‘dash cams’ is that the latest video overwrites the oldest footage, so the memory car is never too full to record anymore.
Advanced
Some more advanced front camera dash cam models go one step further and fit over the driver’s mirror, allowing for an enhanced dual-purpose mirror/display function. These car front camera mirrors are available here. They can include features such as GPS (for logging location into the video) and WiFi to make downloading the footage from the camera easy.
Extra
See also our post on the easy way to carplay and Android auto. It includes details of a car front-facing camera with a clear 10.26″ screen.
