Method and apparatus for monitoring the interior space and the environment of a vehicle

The invention relates to a method and to a device that are used for detecting the surrounding area and the interior of a motor vehicle. The device for carrying out the method comprises a camera device (10) with an optical path that lies in the direction of the surrounding area (103) of the vehicle, especially the road, and an optical path that lies in the direction of the vehicle interior (108). An arithmetic unit (110) is used to control and evaluate the image information that is determined.