Navigation meets dash cam with an augmented-reality twist, Garmin announces the NuviCam

Garmin adds dash cam functionality, advanced driver alerts, and augmented reality features to its Nuvi series of dashboard navigators to create the new NuviCam.

Antuan Goodwin Reviews Editor / Cars

Antuan Goodwin gained his automotive knowledge the old fashioned way, by turning wrenches in a driveway and picking up speeding tickets. From drivetrain tech and electrification to car audio installs and cabin tech, if it's on wheels, Antuan is knowledgeable.

Expertise Reviewing cars and car technology since 2008 focusing on electrification, driver assistance and infotainment Credentials

North American Car, Truck and SUV of the Year (NACTOY) Awards Juror

See full bio

Antuan Goodwin

April 23, 2015 12:36 p.m. PT

2 min read

The latest Garmin portable navigation devices are packed with useful features, but consumer interest is declining. Meanwhile, HD dash cams are hotter than ever. So Garmin has combined the two products and added a dash of driver aid tech to create the new NuviCam. Garmin claims this is "the first sat nav to feature a built-in dash cam and advanced alerts to enhance driver awareness on the road."

The NuviCam starts with a 6-inch, pinch-to-zoom Garmin portable navigation device (PND) and slaps a high-definition dash cam onto its back panel. The camera records a continuous video feed of the road ahead and, when an impact is detected by its accelerometer, captures the moments immediately leading up to and following the bump on its included microSD card along with GPS speed and location data.

The NuviCam can provide collision and lane departure warnings as well as augmented reality functions as you approach your destination. Garmin

Hopefully, accidents will be few and far between, so in the interim, the NuviCam will be able to provide camera-based driver aid features, watching the cars ahead and the lane markers to provide audible and visual forward pre-collision and lane-departure warnings, respectively. Garmin's Real Vision feature displays an augmented reality view of the road ahead when approaching a destination that overlays house numbers along with arrow-shaped indicators to let drivers know precisely where to go when the actual house numbers may be obscured or missing.

Find the right car for you View Local Inventory

This is, of course, all in addition to the NuviCam's primary function of turn-by-turn navigation with lifetime map updates and traffic data via HD Radio in the US and DAB in the UK. Being based on top-tier Nuvi hardware, the NuviCam also features the Garmin's Smartphone Link integration, active lane guidance, "photoReal" and Bird's Eye junction views, and more.

Drivers can add an optional Garmin Wireless Backup Camera (not included) to their vehicle and view its rearview feed on the NuviCam's display while reversing.

The forward-facing dash cam captures the moments leading up to an accident on its micro SD card. Garmin

The Garmin NuviCam LMTHD is expected to be available in May with a suggested retail price of $399.99 in the US and £299.99 in the UK.

For those who still use them, a standalone portable GPS navigation device can provide reliable, accurate and low-distraction turn-by-turn directions. The NuviCam could help keep the PND viable by adding a lot of useful functionality in the same amount of dashboard real estate. However, those that remember the short-lived Nuvifone series of Android and Windows Phone powered smartphones-slash-PNDs know that this isn't Garmin's first foray into cross-breeding PNDs with other technologies.