Camera behind mirror on windscreen

[johnny11]

Noticed this today while giving the car a clean, there seems to be some kind of camera in here behind the rear view mirror above the light sensor, any idea what’s this used for?

[EmilA]

Rain sensor? It looks like a camera I guess

[MikeFish]

Matrix headlights. Think it is used for something else too (speed sign recognition maybe?).

[johnny11]

Ah forgot about the matrix headlights plus probably high beam assist. I don’t have speed sign recognition, but I wonder is this some that can be enabled by VCDS?

[MikeFish]

It's the high beam and tail light that the matrix needs a camera for, so it can see where the car in front is and any oncoming cars and adjust the matrix leds accordingly.
The speed sign recognition uses the windscreen camera but also requires the image processing unit that is part of the adaptive cruise control. As you have the camera but no adaptive then it costs about £1k to retrofit. If you had adaptive cruise then it's about £250. I didn't order it on my car as I thought it would be a simple retrofit (as I have adaptive), however the people I have spoken to about it don't think it is very good and often misread signs. Therefore I haven't bothered and rely on the speed from the sat nav map which is remarkably accurate for permanent speed limits. So at least I have the correct speeds in areas that are not temperarily restricted which apparently the recognition ones doesn't as it sometimes misread.

[Eddie555]

It would be used for Pre sense as well.

[innercry666]

The camera is also used for lane assist. I've tended to find the Speed sign recognition works well and is very useful to have with the HUD.