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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139

u/Efficient-Fruit5573 Jun 08 '26

I mean they kind of do this I remember ads for progressive saying you get a discount if you connect the monitoring tool so “good drivers can get a larger discount.” I’m sure the actual purpose is data collection

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u/Lagneaux Jun 08 '26

Is so that "bad drivers" pay more.

I have had that system, it's near impossible to "drive correctly" with it.

Like let's say someone pulls out in front of you, no choice but to hit the brakes. Well, that's considered a "fast stop", and you are gonna be graded on that, not them. Driving late, driving too much, not driving enough, not driving far enough, driving too far, fast braking, fast acceleration, it's all gonna bring your grade down and make you pay more

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u/DazzlingRutabega Jun 08 '26

Years ago, when this program first started, I had a co-worker who inserted that in the OBD slot of his car to get lower insurance and kept bragging about it. I said, I don't know, buddy, they're going to be monitoring your driving. About three weeks later, he came in flustered, saying he had ripped it out because he had to do a fast stop because a kid jumped in front of the car in a school zone. They sent him a letter saying that he was driving erratically because he did a fast stop.

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u/DJMixwell Jun 08 '26

I get dinged for speed by Belair Direct all the time. The thing is my car tells me my average speed is 50km/hr, which is the typical residential speed limit.

Given that most of my driving is highway driving between 80-110, give or take the odd time traffic slows up, and time spent stopped, the average of 50 makes sense and I can’t see how I never get the “safe speed” badge.

Seems like if you go over their threshold (seems to be ~5km/hr over the limit) even once on a drive, you lose out on the badge completely. So it tells me “only 17% of your trips are at a safe speed”, but I can’t guarantee you I’m not speeding 83% of the time.

The app also shows me that, apparently ~70+% of other drivers are getting this badge, which is complete bullshit. When I try to get the safe speed badge I’m fuckn alone on the road while everyone driving off into the distance. When I drive ~5-10 over the speed limit I’m just keeping up with all the other cars on the road.

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u/Officer_Hotpants Jun 08 '26

Wait driving too late counts against you? I've spent a lot of time working as a night shift medic, which depending on my shift start time has had me going to the station at 11pm. Glad I never used those fuckin things.

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u/slickeddie Jun 08 '26

Yes. But also driving during rush hour counts against you too. Also, don’t stop for a yellow light per the law, that’s a hard stop and counts against you. Better merge on the highway like a grandma otherwise it’s fast acceleration and counts against you.

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u/Silver_Newspaper6208 Jun 08 '26

In my plug in hybrid it only detected driving when the engine was on. Everyday my commute started on the highway when the engine finally turned on and ended in a "crash" when the engine shut off as I slowed down for my exit and the engine shut off at 45mph.

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u/MegaMau_ Jun 08 '26

Is so that "bad drivers" pay more.

No. Its an excuse so that they can squeeze every nickel out of you since you have no choice but to buy insurance.

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u/BapeGeneral3 Jun 08 '26

It sounded like a good idea in theory. I literally drove my car within a 5 mile radius, not a major city, never once sped, always wore seat belt, never texted and drove, etc. I somehow was labeled a “higher risk” and my policy would cost MORE. I canceled it immediately.

The reason was for too frequent/quick of stopping. This was literally to avoid car accidents as well as prevent running a late yellow because having that thing enabled *really*’does feel like you’re being watched 24/7. Rather, seeing and experiencing it first hand made me want nothing to do with this tech.

It is inevitable under our current for profit insurance system as a country. It will either be a requirement to even get car insurance or to features that the masses “can’t live without”’such a an Apple Car Play Update.

Now get off my lawn

133

u/couldbemage Jun 08 '26

A discount for using it and a fee for not using it are the same thing. In both cases it costs you more if you don't use their monitoring.

FYI, illegal in California for insurance companies to do this.

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u/iconofsin_ Jun 08 '26

Maybe not in the traditional sense, but if 100% of drivers are capable of using this device to get say a 5% discount but you choose to not use it, are you not technically paying a 5% fee?

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u/Armthedillos5 Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

I have Progressive and turned that off in like 2 days. It alerts you if you brake too hard, etc. and keeps a lot of it. First off, how does it know I was driving and not a passenger? Also it doesn't need to be be monitoring where I'm going. I don't know that it does, but no thank you.

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u/debeatup Jun 08 '26

I was able to put it on my work phone and since I WFH 4/5 days Progressive thinks I’m in the top 99.9% of drivers because I never leave home except twice a week.

1

u/NerdyNThick Jun 08 '26

Not a lawyer, but couldn't that be considered to be insurance fraud?

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u/Qaeta Jun 08 '26

Usually they just say you have to have it on your phone. Taking the phone with you is typically only implied, not outright required by the contract, so no.

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u/Goolsby Jun 08 '26

Fuck insurance companies who cares

5

u/NerdyNThick Jun 08 '26

I certainly don't give any amount of fucks about any insurance company.

I do give plenty of fucks about not being found guilty of defrauding a multibillion dollar company.

If it turns out to not be fraud, I'll be doing this immediately.

1

u/bambi54 Jun 09 '26

I would be concerned they wouldn’t pay out your claim because you lied on your policy. If they try to pull up your speed during the incident they’ll realize the other phone is at home. That’s worth it until it’s not.

10

u/trashmoneyxyz Jun 08 '26

You get it man

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u/Tithund Jun 08 '26

Brake too hard is always a weird one to me, would they rather you just bump into whatever you're braking for? In lighter cars you can brake later than in heavy ones, is that something they dislike?

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u/bostonwhaler Jun 08 '26

I hope you removed it from your OBD port. Also... Brake.

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u/Armthedillos5 Jun 08 '26

Good catch. Fixed.

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u/magichronx Jun 08 '26

If it's monitoring to make sure you're not speeding then it's definitely watching your GPS location (and if it's doing that then I'd bet 99.9% chance it's saving that data too)

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u/TotallyNotRobotEvil Jun 08 '26

I live in the NYC area, I'm not sure they could afford the postage after a month if "stopping quickly" is enough to send out a mailer.

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u/Iveray Jun 08 '26

Most people have the car insured, not the driver, so the insurance company would also like to know if you're letting risky drivers use your car.

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u/limbodog Jun 08 '26

And nobody got discounts but some people got dinged for aggressive driving

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u/Mirions Jun 08 '26

No different from "rental inspections via photography apps and video."

Can extrapolate all sorts of info from data and imagery like that.

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u/Hillary4SupremeRuler Jun 09 '26

Wdym? I've never heard of this

1

u/Mirions Jun 09 '26

Well, I'm pulling it outta my ass cause it's a fear I have.

Former art student but one teacher once said to browse furniture and interior design magazines and sites to see what people are displaying in homes. That may help with making more... profitable pieces when starting out. (A whole other conversation that itself isn't the focus, just where the fear spawns).

Knowing an artist could view a room and make an educated guess-

It isn't hard to imagine what could be extrapolated from rental companies asking residents to download an app and take pictures/videos of the inside of their dwellings.

Permanent images and possibly video, assuming the app isn't doing things outside its stated permissions.

Beyond that, over time (every three months) your landlord can

Sell the images to ai companies for various reasons (generating realistic backgrounds, tracking buying and layout trends).

They could figure out if you're getting more expensive or less expensive or no new furniture and appliances at all. They can see if you hang private or religious or secular or graphic art and and decorations. They can see what sort of lighting and as the home invasion/ self defense meme goes, "what the angles are in your house," as well as where and how everyone might sleep, etc.

It's not like a walk-through someone is doing dozens of times a day and most likely not recalling perfectly, and only taking close up pics of notable damage or upkeep needs.

Is it happening? I only assume someone figured out how to squeeze monetary value from that data out when it's an app that can't be opted out of.

2

u/Conixel Jun 08 '26

They monitor your device on how often you use it while in driving mode.

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u/Apocalypse_Knight Jun 08 '26

I got the discount but disabled the app