[February 01, 2018]

Owl Launches First Security Camera for Your Car

Today marks the launch of the Owl Car Cam, the first LTE (News - Alert)-Connected security camera for your car, built to protect and empower drivers with instant video evidence of anything and everything the road throws their way. Designed by a team of seasoned entrepreneurs hailing from Apple, Microsoft (News - Alert) & Dropcam, the Owl Car Cam brings 24/7, easy-to-use security to the car to capture crashes, break-ins, dents, and traffic stops. Owl was founded on the idea that video, sensors, and intelligent software can help people deal with real life events that matter.

When driving, dual-facing cameras protect Owl users, capturing what happens on the road, both inside and outside of the car. When parked, Owl secures the vehicle with sensors that automatically alert the driver via the Owl Cam app. The app lets you see and use HD video evidence of everything from break-ins to mystery parking lot dings. You alone control the video with the Owl app on your phone. The app is built to make sharing video easy in seconds.

"Cars need video security - badly. No matter how you look at it, whether in terms of dollars or physical damage or emotional harm caused, the car is a place where a lot happens. We built the Owl Car Cam to help people feel safer with a device that's super easy to install and use everyday. And with the Owl Car Cam, you'll catch all the amazing, fun life moments that happen in your car too," said Andy Hodge, Owl CEO and Founder.

Every year, one in two American families are impacted by crashes, dents, dings, traffic stops or auto break-ins, at a cost of more than $82 billion in loss and damages. The Owl Car Cam is always connected to power and utilizes a LTE connection to access up to 24 hours of high definition video and alerts. The camera automatically detects the important safety events that occur in and around the car and provides instant video clip reports. This system protects and helps people in 5 situations:

• Crashes: Crashes and close calls are captured and ready for you to review 24-hours a day on your phone to save and share so you avoid unfair blame.
• Dings/dents: On-board sensors automatically detect events while you're away from your car, and send alerts to your phone. The Owl Cam App will display what happened, and let you see what's happening right now in your car via a live feed. This all lets you save and share the video of "that other car."
• Traffic stops: Owl is running when you are pulled over to keep everyone on their best behavior and to make sure you have what you need to tell your side of the story.
• Break-ins: If someone other than you gets in your car, Owl knows and alerts you. Owl pairs with your iPhone (News - Alert), and senses when you and your phone approach your car. If it's someone else and they break in or get into your car, Owl's LED floodlights will turn on to scare them off. Owl also sends you an alert via the Owl Cam App with video day or night, so you can watch a live feed of what's going on in your car and even use the intercom to say, "Get out of my car dude."
• And Everything Else Too: Owl also helps you capture and share the wonderful and unexpected moments that happen when you drive. Owl has voice-controlled video tagging. Tagging lets you name video clips that are sent straight to your phone. You just say the trigger word "OK Presto" and describe what you saw. The named video clip is sent to your phone ready for you to share it to your favorite social networks right from the Owl Cam App. Owl was originally built for the serious, but don't be surprised if car karaoke, funny and unexpected family moments, or amazing views happen.

The Owl Car Cam has dual HD cameras, an LTE cellular radio, WiFi (News - Alert), Bluetooth, GPS, a touch screen, a powerful processor, speakers, microphones and security beacon and lights. The Owl Car Cam will be sold individually for $299 in 2018.

The Owl LTE Service provides instant security alerts, voice controlled video clip creation, live remote video of what's happening in your car now and the ability to see everything that happened in the 24 hours from anywhere. The Owl LTE service, including up to 60 minutes of Live View use or up to 60 video tags costs $10/month.

Today, at launch on 2/1/2018, the Owl Car Cam plus one year of LTE service is available for purchase for $349 - a savings of $70.

Alongside the nationwide launch, Owl also announced a Series A funding round of $18 Million. Owl's investors include defy.vc, Khosla Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Sherpa Capital, Moment Ventures, Maniv Mobility, and CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA insurer.

"We led the Series A because this is an incredibly experienced team that knows how to build industry-defining products. The Owl Car Cam can do for car security what Dropcam did for home security, and the iPod and iPhone did for music players and phones," said Trae Vassallo, co-founder and managing director of defy.vc.

About Owl: Owl is led by Andy Hodge, a veteran leader of iPod, iPhone, HoloLens and Dropcam, along with a deeply experienced team of engineers and entrepreneurs. At Owl we love building things that are both useful and fun. Now this team brings you the Owl Car Cam. Our goal is that cameras and people work together to make the world more safe, civil and fun.

Owl is based in Palo Alto, CA (News - Alert).

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180201005401/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]