Tesla: Dashcam with up to 24h continuous recording

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve cursed upon discovering my dashcam had overwritten an important clip. This frustration, shared by thousands of Tesla owners, could soon be a thing of the past. Tesla is finally rolling out a major improvement to its recording system: from 60 minutes to 24 hours of continuous recording. The rollout began in China in early February 2026, and Europe is expected to follow in the coming months. Here’s what’s concretely changing for us.

A 60-minute limitation that frustrated us all

Ever since I’ve owned my Tesla, this 60-minute limit has always seemed arbitrary. The concrete problems I’ve encountered are numerous:

• Spectacular FSD clips overwritten before even getting home to save them
• Parking incidents lost forever (vandalism, minor bumps)
• The impossibility of keeping an entire long journey without manual intervention

The most frustrating part? Third-party dashcams like Blackvue or Viofo have been offering 8 to 12 hours of recording for years. On Tesla forums and social media, complaints about this absurd limitation and automatic data overwriting have been recurrent since the camera system’s launch.

Tesla was finally listening, but it took a while for this change to arrive.

The new system: dynamic and smart

Unlike the rigid old approach, Tesla is introducing a dynamic system that automatically adjusts the recording duration based on the available space on your USB drive. The larger your drive, the more hours of video you can keep.

Please note: the duration depends on the actual free space on the drive, not its total capacity. If your 1 TB drive is already half full with other files, you won’t reach the promised 24 hours of recording.

Loop recording remains preserved: once the space is full, the system automatically overwrites the oldest files. But with a 24-hour buffer, the chances of losing an important event drastically decrease.

Why wasn’t this the case before?

Tesla has never officially communicated the reasons for this initial limitation. My hypothesis? A deliberate software limitation to preserve the performance of the embedded system. Tesla probably prioritized system stability and responsiveness over raw video storage capacity. Now that hardware and software have evolved, this constraint is finally disappearing.

When will this update arrive in France?

Currently, the feature is in a limited testing phase with Tesla employees in China since February 5, 2026. The usual Tesla deployment schedule generally follows this pattern:

• Internal testing in China: 2 to 4 weeks
• Gradual rollout in the United States: 1 to 2 months after China
• Arrival in Europe: generally 2 to 3 months after the initial announcement

If this timeline holds, we can reasonably expect to see this update arrive in France between April and May 2026. But be aware: Tesla never communicates official dates for deployments in Europe, and delays are always possible.

I’m closely monitoring announcements and will update this article as soon as I have more precise information for our market.

How to benefit from it as soon as it arrives

Choosing the right USB drive

To maximize recording, opt for a quality 1 TB USB drive. Here are my hardware recommendations:

• Reliable brands: Samsung BAR Plus, SanDisk Extreme Pro
• Minimum speed: USB 3.0 or higher (fast read/write is essential)
• Realistic budget: 80 to 120€ for a professional-grade 1TB

Remember to regularly check the free space on your drive, especially before a long trip. If it’s full of old clips or other files, you won’t benefit from the maximum capacity. To go further in customization, I also recommend discovering how to optimize your Tesla’s settings for an even smoother daily use.

Practical use cases for us, Tesliens

This evolution concretely transforms several daily situations:

• Accidents: full preservation of the journey preceding the impact, even on the highway after several hours of driving
• Nighttime vandalism: complete recording of the entire night while parked, without risk of evidence being overwritten
• Road trips: capture of an entire Paris-Nice journey or equivalent without interruption
• FSD clips: preservation of spectacular interventions or bugs to report to Tesla, even after a long session

If you plan to sleep in your Tesla during road trips, this new 24h recording capacity becomes a real safety asset for the night. For our long Tesla road trips, like a journey of over 600 km, being able to keep the entire route on video truly changes the game.

Important reminder: in France, dashcam recordings have probative value in court according to established jurisprudence, provided that GDPR is respected and public space is not filmed abusively.

My review: a welcome catch-up, not a revolution

Tesla is finally correcting a major annoyance that has been undermining the user experience for years. I am personally relieved to see this evolution arrive, even if it should have been implemented much sooner.

Let’s be realistic: other manufacturers and dashcam makers have been offering better for a long time. So, this is not a disruptive innovation, but rather a catch-up on accumulated delay. That said, I commend Tesla’s responsiveness to user feedback on this point.

One limitation persists, however: dependence on external hardware. Why doesn’t Tesla offer dedicated internal storage, like some premium manufacturers? This would simplify the experience and guarantee optimal performance without user configuration. For more information on current regulations, you can consult official Tesla sources on dashcam usage.

My advice: invest now in a good 1TB USB drive to be ready for when the update arrives on your Tesla. And you, what capacity will you choose when the update arrives?