Rivian's onboard cameras save owner from a false accusation by police (electrek.co)

Colorado police wrongly accused Rivian owner Chrisanna Elser of being a “porch pirate” after analytics from Flock’s automatic license-plate–reading (ALPR) network flagged her green truck entering a neighborhood multiple times and an officer relied on a superficial match (both women were blonde). The officer confronted Elser aggressively and served a court summons despite lacking video evidence tying her to the theft; the actual doorbell footage online showed a different woman. Elser ultimately used her Rivian’s built‑in “Road Cam” — which records via the vehicle’s driver‑assist cameras and can store continuous footage to an external USB‑C drive — to prove she was only driving through to an appointment, leading the police chief to clear the summons weeks later. The case highlights two AI/ML‑adjacent technical issues: how ALPR networks (like Flock, now partnering with Ring) enable pervasive, automated tracking that produces noisy, high‑false‑positive signals, and how reliance on those signals — without cross‑checking timestamps, exits, or facial verification — can drive wrongful accusations. It also underscores an emerging evidentiary role for consumer vehicle cameras (Tesla and Rivian offer similar features) while raising equity and civil‑liberties concerns: not everyone can afford cars with always‑on recording or the storage to preserve footage, and private surveillance networks combined with under‑regulated police use risk amplifying bias, misidentification, and invasive mass tracking.