Sinister in-car spy tech that can kill your engine will be mandatory next year under Biden policy — sparking major privacy fears
Publish Date: 2026-04-30 15:39:00
Source Domain: nypost.com
Are you ready for your car to decide if you’re fit to drive? If not, you’d better buckle up.
A federal mandate declares new vehicles must have in-car surveillance for 2027 models onward that can decide if a person is fit to drive and can make the car inoperable via a so-called “kill switch.”
And don’t count on brushing your teeth or gargling with Listerine to work around the driver monitor if you’ve had one too many.
Most new cars won’t make the determination via breathalyzer, but infrared cameras continually monitoring potential impairment cues.
Lauren Fix of “Car Coach Reports” broke down how the new tech is likely to prove problematic. NY Post
They include pupil size, head movements, eye movements and various behaviors consistent with a driver being out of it.
Such measures are sounding very loud alarm bells with privacy campaigners.
“This is invading every driver’s privacy, taking information, deciding if you’re drunk” without having all the evidence. “Then you get in the car and can’t start it,” Lauren Fix, an automotive expert who founded “Car Coach Reports,” told The Post.
The statute for the new system was buried in the 2021 Infrastructure Act, passed by the Biden administration, which aimed to increase road, bridge and airport safety.
“Originally, it was designed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a good group that doesn’t want anyone driving drunk. Nobody wants people driving drunk,” Fix noted.
Car accidents are an everyday occurrence across the US and alcohol is a factor in many cases, with 804,926 people arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence nationwide in 2024. William Miller
General Motors (GM) filed a patent for a system that detects if someone is impaired through cameras and sensors analyzing the way a driver walks up to the car. Ford plans to use cameras and “machine learning” to scan irises, track facial expressions and monitor…
