Your Car Risks Becoming a Surveillance Center – Tracks Every Movement

As of next year, every new car sold on the American market may be required to actively monitor the person behind the wheel, something that, for many drivers, feels less like safety and more like surveillance.

As is tradition, the measure is presented with the purported aim of increasing safety. As part of a broader federal safety initiative, there is a requirement for technology to detect drunk driving in all new vehicles. However, critics fear that such a system would be used for much more than just detecting and preventing intoxicated people from driving.

To achieve this, car manufacturers must install systems that monitor drivers in real time, meaning a combination of cameras and sensors that track things like eye movements, head position, and overall attention. This is not just about observing, but about constantly analyzing what the driver is doing.

If the system detects what is assessed as an impairment, it does not simply issue a warning and keep driving—it may, in some cases, prevent the vehicle from starting or limit its functions even after you have started driving. This means that the car itself becomes the decision-maker.

According to this scenario, a machine would decide if you are allowed to use your property, based on its interpretation of your behavior. This raises risks of incorrect interpretations of things like fatigue, distraction, or normal driving habits, depending on how the system is calibrated.

Collects Data

In addition to real-time monitoring, there is a bigger problem looming in the background. The systems not only observe; they also collect data about how you drive, how often you seem distracted, and how the system interprets your behavior over time—and the question is where this information then ends up.

At present, there is no clear answer to all concerns, and fears have already been raised about whether the information may be shared with insurance companies, manufacturers, or even authorities.

Additional Costs

Proponents of the technology argue that the benefits are obvious—if it can prevent even a fraction of drunk driving incidents, it could save lives. But the way it is implemented, with active monitoring every time you sit behind the wheel, is what causes resistance.

Another aspect is cost. Such systems are not cheap, and it is highly likely that this cost will be passed on to the customer, who then pays for technology they did not ask for.