Federal Surveillance Tech Becomes Mandatory in New Cars by 2027

rishigurjar

Slippery slope or have we been saying that since seat belts

mullingitover

This is a very dishonest, clickbait, bullshit claim. It’s a safety system, no one is spying on you. Many vehicles, IIRC including Teslas, already have this safety feature.

mothballed

Sweet, free money for car manufacturers to charge cost + a profit, then a double dip for their insiders when they sell delete kits.

cubefox

(This article was clearly written with LLM assistance. Is this still worth pointing out? Or should we just accept it at this point?)

anthonyIPH

Hypothetical. I'm in my rural California home late on a Friday night, having finished a bottle of wine and ready to go to bed when I suddenly realize a wild fire has started near my home, does my car let me escape this natural disaster?

the_loop

If I received the car for free from my government, I would consider accepting these terms. Otherwise, this is a huge not interested.

vetrom

There's a ton of bad reporting here, because the publications, or writers, are lazy about sourcing their reporting. In this case, there is a kernel of truth: The 2021-2022 "Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act" ( https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3684... ) directs NHTSA to develop an in-vehicle driver system to detect some definition of impaired driving. In particular, "SEC. 24220" (searchable by that string in the above bill text.) directs NHTSA to either write and publish a rule implementing such, or make a yearly report to Congress as to why said technology is not implementable. This is the 2026 report: https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2026-03/Report-t... In essence, they state that while they have prototypes, the technology is not yet sufficient. There's nothing in a proposed or final rule yet, to the best of my knowledge. Personally, I'm wary of this type of rule-making, as it essentially remains 'hidden' from public comment until the notices of final rule-making, making it in my eyes an end-run around the Administrative Procedure Act. I don't expect that to be a very widely held position though. (Edit: I linked the 2023 report first, not the 2026 one. Whoopsy.)

swader999

If you drive with your phone on that'll be all they need.

phendrenad2

Note that the actual law[1] doesn't say how impaired driving is to be automatically detected. It could be something like requiring the driver to wiggle the steering wheel in a certain order before the car will go anywhere. Or it could passively monitor the driver for sudden braking or swerving out of the lane. We'll have to see how the regulators interpret it. [1] - https://www.congress.gov/117/plaws/publ58/PLAW-117publ58.pdf

OutOfHere

Those who believe in routine drinking and driving will surely buy a gadget to let them bypass this device with a fake breather that also outputs some natural-grade vapor.

emeril

isn't this already possible via a breathalizer?