Have you ever watched the movie’ 2001: A Space Odyssey’? If yes, you already saw something like the Tesla Sentry Mode, quite like the HAL 9000 from the film.





The actual Sentry Mode is an integrated surveillance system installed in Teslas that are using the Autopilot and can detect potential threats with the camera around the car. But when activated, it shows a big red dot on the vehicle’s touchscreen, just like HAL 9000. The only problem here is that MGM owns the rights to 2001: A Space Odyssey, and now Tesla got a claim for using the image.





According to Tesla: “Sentry Mode adds a unique layer of protection to Tesla vehicles by continuously monitoring the environment around a car when it’s left unattended. When enabled, Sentry Mode enters a “Standby” state, like many home alarm systems, which uses the car’s external cameras to detect potential threats. If a minimal threat is detected, such as someone leaning on a car, Sentry Mode switches to an “Alert” state and displays a message on the touchscreen warning that its cameras are recording. If a more severe threat is detected, such as someone breaking a window, Sentry Mode switches to an “Alarm” state, which activates the car alarm, increases the brightness of the center display, and plays music at maximum volume from the car’s audio system.

If a car switches to “Alarm” state, owners will also receive an alert from their Tesla mobile app notifying them that an incident has occurred. They’ll be able to download a video recording of an incident (which begins 10 minutes prior to the time a threat was detected) by inserting a formatted USB drive into their car before they enable Sentry Mode.”