The Government Is Your Car’s Next Passenger
The infrastructure bill will require impaired driving technology in all new vehicles.
by Sarah Montalbano
December 15, 2021, 12:00 AM
Politicians have already cashed in on the infrastructure bill victory, but Americans will eventually suffer the consequences of today’s virtue-signaling. In a few short years, the government may be an omnipresent passenger in every new car.
The 2,000-page infrastructure bill, signed into law a few weeks ago, includes a mandate that newly manufactured cars keep a digital eye on their drivers — and figure out whether or not they’re in any condition to drive. This certainly sounds well-intentioned, but as lamentable as drunk-driving deaths are, mandating technology that has yet to be invented raises serious practical and privacy concerns.
Section 24220 of the law, titled Advanced Impaired Driving Technology, directs the secretary of transportation to issue a rule within three years requiring advanced impaired driving technology in all new vehicles, although the rule may be delayed if the technology is not ready for implementation. Automakers have up to three years after the rule is issued to comply.
Automakers may become unwilling accomplices to massive surveillance, but chances are, they will be as eager as Amazon was to give law enforcement easy access to video footage.
Despite potentially affecting all vehicles as soon as 2026, the text of the law is surprisingly vague. All we know is that it would require that the technology “passively and accurately detect” blood alcohol concentration greater than allowable limits or, more concerning, “passively monitor the performance of a driver” to determine impairment. If impairment is detected, the technology must “prevent or limit” the operation of the vehicle. Though drunk driving is one obvious meaning of the law, impairment encompasses a broad range of behaviors: for example, being overly drowsy, intoxicated by marijuana or other substances, being distracted, eating, or using a cell phone. Obviously, no one should be driving in any of these states. The question is, what does a technology capable of preventing this look like?
more
https://spectator.org/government-car-monitoring/
