Amazon Announces New Ring Car Cam and Sidewalk-enabled Devices

Amazon is making its comeback to CES this year, and the company has just announced a new dual-facing Ring Car Cam and Sidewalk enabled devices. The new Ring Car Cam, which is now available for pre-order for $199, can be attached to your car windshield and dashboard and it supports interior and exterior recording.

When your car is in motion, the Ring Car Cam can record what’s happening and it has a built-in microphone and speaker to let you make phone calls. When your car is parked, you can manually start a video record using an Alexa command, but the Ring Car Cam also has various sensors to detect break-ins when you’re not in the car. In that case, the Cam can record what’s happening and invite you to watch what’s happening within the Ring mobile app.

“While Ring Car Cam sends real-time alerts when it’s on your home Wi-Fi, Ring Protect Go extends that protection with an LTE cellular connection,” Amazon explained. If you’re concerned about privacy, the Ring Car Cam comes with a privacy shutter for the inside-facing camera, and video records support optional end-to-end encryption. All recordings are stored locally, but you can also upload video highlights to the cloud with an optional subscription.

Moving to Amazon Sidewalk, Amazon’s low-bandwidth neighborhood network for low-powered appliances is getting support for new third-party devices. New Cosmos USA Inc. is launching a new DeNova Detect-branded natural gas alarm, while a new smart modem from Deviceroy uses Amazon Sidewalk to connect solar inverters to the Internet.

“These devices work with Sidewalk’s long-range, low-bandwidth connectivity, offering the potential for battery-saving benefits without the costs associated with cellular data or the limited range of Wi-Fi,” Amazon explained, adding that it will soon give developers new tools to create more Sidewalk-enabled devices.

Amazon had a couple more announcements at CES including a Ring Peephole Cam and the upcoming ability for Alexa to find EV charging stations while you’re driving. Unfortunately, Amazon’s CEO also had some bad news today.

After announcing back in November that it was laying off 10,000 employees, the company conducted additional reviews and determined that it needed to eliminate over 18,000 roles, with Amazon Stores and PXT organizations being affected the most. “We are working to support those who are affected and are providing packages that include a separation payment, transitional health insurance benefits, and external job placement support,” Jassy said today.