Hertz puts cameras in some of its rental cars, but it never meant to be creepy

Last week, Fusion reported that Hertz had been updating the navigational devices in its rental cars to include cameras that have a full view of the interior of the vehicle. The update, which began in mid-2014, happened quietly and so far has only impacted about thirteen percent of Hertz' fleet. Still, that number troubled those who noticed the tiny unblinking eye staring back at them.

But Hertz has maintained that the cameras are nothing for customers to fear. Last week, a representative told Fusion that the cameras will eventually be used for customers to video chat with a customer service representative in the event that they get into an accident or have other issues. At that time, the camera would only be turned on by the push of a button from the car driver. But at the moment, that feature is not functional, the company said.

“We do not have adequate bandwidth capabilities to the car to support streaming video at this time,” Hertz said. Instead Hertz began installing cameras on its navigational devices, called NeverLost, to prepare for an indeterminate time in the future when activating such a feature makes economic sense.