Abstract: The invention concerns a device for the optical monitoring of the internal space of a vehicle, wherein the vehicle internal space is monitored by at least one panorama camera (2; 4), of which images are supplied in curvilinear coordinates, wherein the images obtained from the panorama camera (2; 4) are transformed to cylindrical or planar coordinates (6) and wherein the transformed images are subjected to an electronic image evaluation (8). The invention makes it possible with one single camera to carry out various monitoring functions both in the internal spaces as well as the external space of the vehicle.