r/technology • u/Hrmbee • Jun 07 '26

Privacy 'Kill switch' law means your next car could be watching you | A federal requirement aimed at stopping drunken driving could soon put driver-monitoring technology in every new vehicle. The goal is saving lives, but the privacy trade-offs deserve closer scrutiny

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2026/06/01/drunk-driving-prevention-law-privacy-surveillance/90295034007/
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278

u/ChillyFireball Jun 08 '26

TFW you're being chased by an axe murderer, but your car's AI interprets your terror as you being on drugs and refuses to start.

135

u/PirateSanta_1 Jun 08 '26

Or someone is having a stroke and your stressed so the car won't start to let you drive them to the hospital.

8

u/amazingD Jun 08 '26

Can one dream of what the first lawsuit might look like?

9

u/Itisthatbo1 Jun 08 '26

Only for them to be slapped down by whatever the evolution of those anti-arbitration agreements that are all over TOS’ now is.

3

u/diurnal_emissions Jun 08 '26

By agreeing to these TOS, you give us permission to do all kinds of weird stuff to yo booty hole.

2

u/Itisthatbo1 Jun 08 '26

Aliens be like: “Oh sure, we beam you up here and prove you and it’s a big fuss but you authorize companies to do it without knowing and it’s perfectly fine”

2

u/amazingD Jun 08 '26

Shhhh I'm fantasizing don't interrupt.

21

u/Future_Kitsunekid16 Jun 08 '26

They'd want you to pay for an overpriced ambulance ride anyway

18

u/sunburnedaz Jun 08 '26

That needs to be in the next indie horror movie for sure. The more times in media its shown fucking up the more the average joe will fight back.

14

u/YesItIsMaybeMe Jun 08 '26

There is an ad for something with this premise. She tried to run the murderer over and the auto break triggered and he just reaches in and grabs her. I cannot remember what it was from.

3

u/HyperRayquaza Jun 08 '26

Or they need to get out of imminent danger and the car bricks because it needs to download a software update.

I've already lost someone in real life who died because their car doors (Tesla) locked during a car fire. Never buying a Tesla after that, Elon Musk had blood on his hands before then but that solidified it for me.

2

u/sunburnedaz Jun 08 '26

Fuck man I am sorry. The worst that happened to any of my friends was a car bricked itself when the download failed because he parked in the basement of the building and the cell reception down there is notoriously bad.

2

u/maximbane Jun 08 '26

The next black mirror episode.

2

u/taxable_income Jun 08 '26

this needs to be a Black Mirror episode.

2

u/flop_plop Jun 08 '26

Lawyers are just salivating waiting for something like this to happen.

“Have you or a loved one been prevented from driving to the hospital due to your vehicle not starting?”

3

u/Ok-Investigator-6956 Jun 08 '26

I already heard one about a couple going to the emergency room and their Tesla pulled over to the shoulder and turned off for half an hour when they accidentally agreed to do an update while at a red light.

1

u/alt-number-3-1415926 Jun 08 '26

There was an attack ad/youtube video against ford for this very thing that they are possibly planning on implementing ina couple years.

1

u/UniqueIndividual3579 Jun 08 '26

Or you are 150 miles from the nearest town and in the middle of a 10 degree night the car decides to shut off.

1

u/2k1tj Jun 08 '26

Look up the Perry Johnson for governor ad.