Samsara Inc. has launched a 360-degree AI camera built for equipment with open cabs, extending the safety and visibility tools the company already sells for road fleets to machines working on construction sites, in warehouses, mines and at airports.
The Samsara 360 Camera uses a dual-fisheye lens to capture a full surround view from a single mounting point. It is offered alongside Samsara for Equipment, the company's monitoring offering for machinery, and both run on the same platform customers use for their vehicle fleets.
Designed for machines without windshields
Samsara frames the product around a specific gap: excavators, forklifts and airport pushback tractors run with open cabs, often within feet of co-workers and other equipment, and the company says none of that machinery had a camera system built for the job. Without footage captured at ground level, the company argues, incident investigations stalled, liability was disputed and the same unsafe behaviours could repeat.
David Gal, vice president of product and engineering at Samsara, said the frontline workers operating forklifts, excavators and ground equipment do some of the riskiest work in physical operations, and that these machines have open cabs, no windshield, no roof and hazards on every side. He said the camera was built to work in those conditions and see all the way around the operator, so customers can protect frontline workers on the warehouse floor, the job site and the airport ramp in the same way they do on the road.
One mount instead of four
According to Samsara, 360-degree systems for equipment traditionally require four cameras, four mounts and a separate recorder. The 360 Camera captures the full 360-degree view from one mount point, and managers can pan and zoom through any recorded event to review it from every angle. It installs in the same way as a Samsara dash cam and is built to withstand harsh weather and rough operating conditions.
What the AI is trained to flag
- Risk detection: AI detections flag mobile phone use, camera obstruction, seat and lap belt use and harsh impacts, trained on how equipment is actually operated.
- Risk patterns: managers can see which operators, sites and equipment types show repeat risky behaviour, and every impact automatically pulls video into the Samsara Safety Inbox so investigations close on evidence rather than competing accounts.
- Follow-through: managers coach operators using their own footage, enforce zero-tolerance mobile phone policies and accelerate OSHA investigations, while timestamped footage supports insurance claims and helps establish or clear liability quickly.
Equipment data on one platform
Samsara for Equipment combines with the camera so teams can see how long each forklift or excavator sits idling, schedule preventive maintenance against actual engine hours instead of the calendar, and check how many forklifts genuinely run at peak before buying more. Samsara agents work with the equipment out of the box, so a fault code can open a work order automatically. The company says every vehicle, piece of equipment and operator sits on a single platform rather than a separate OEM portal for each equipment brand.
The camera draws on nearly a decade of development behind Samsara's AI dash cams, the company said, and is positioned as an extension of a fleet safety programme rather than a standalone recording device.