by Wallace Wyss –
The proposed law from the California legislature is that all new cars sold in California by a certain date must have a warning device that beeps to warn you that you’ve exceeded the speed limit.
Like do we really need this? I don’ mind a little light on the dash–maybe a picture of a finger saying no-no-no. But any complaints I have against this are nothing compared to the ranting I will do when they start to use the EV car’s capability of recording your each and every journey and punishing you for every section you have sped on.
Tesla already records every mile you drive (for the collective memory bank) but what if legislation is passed that at the end of your day trip pontificates “On such-and such a journey you exceeded the speed limit in six different localities–the collective fines are $3,242.43 and 5 points on your license.” Naturally you can’t object because the State can require the EV maker to turn over the footage. Conveniently it will have a simulated speedometer reading next to the incriminating footage, cooking your goose so to speak.
I don’t know which political party is pushing this invasive gadgetry but us drivers who like a good burst of speed on occasion find it aggravating and those of us who like our privacy do not like it either. And of course the scammers will invade legislator’s cars and show footage of them not only speeding, but maybe stopping by the massage parlor before heading home to the spouse.
You reap what you sew, you knuckleheads…
In order to know if we are speeding the car’s computer would need to know the location, the speed limit for that location and compare it to the actual speed. This presents a case for serious invasion of privacy like we wrote about before where General Motors has been selling their customer’s driving data, which they have collected directly from their internet-connected vehicles with their OnStar system.
We also wrote about possible national security risks posed by internet-connected vehicles from China. Yet, vehicles made in other countries are also internet-connected and have the ability to collect the same data.
With internet-connected cars the government could pass laws that require the car to self report speeding, and possibly other violations, to the local police and the ticket would be sent to the car owner in the mail, or the police could just deduct the fines from the car owner’s on-line bank accounts with properly written new laws. Or the State could collect the fine and send a share to the local police. The possibilities are fascinating.
We are entering a new unprecedented era of potential privacy invasion by vehicle companies and governments.
Mike Gulett, Editor
Let us know what you think in the Comments.
THE AUTHOR Wallace Wyss has been retained as a car marketer by several automakers when they had an extra special model. He is still a consultant, in between making fine art paintings of exotic cars.
The 1957 Buicks had a speed minder that you could set and would buzz when that speed was hit. I agree if it’s just isolated to the car and the driver, no problem. But today’s cars are much smarter and they hold a lot of information that could be misused. The insurance companies do this if you let them either through their own plug in devices or OnStar.
Glen, Good point about the insurance companies and don’t forget the info your phone transmits. The NY Times covers it in depth in this article.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/09/technology/driver-scores-insurance-data-apps.html
I don’t mind the heads up display on my 2024 car telling me when I have exceeded the posted limit and by how much, but the proposed legislation and cars spying on us is getting a bit over the top… How much spying by our government and insurance regulators are we going to tolerate?… This is reaching revolt status, and I am hopeful that if this crap passes, that there will be hackers out there ready to reprogram our vehicles to lie… Enough government and industry nanny devices… this is not technological improvement, this is entrapment and over reach…
Republicans are the party of “less government”. Republicans do not insist that everyone should drive an EV. They believe everyone is entitled to choose what car they drive. Republicans are not in favor of “Digital Currency”, which will do a lot worse than deduct money from your account when you exceed the speed limit. Internet connected vehicles (especially from China!) are the worst and most invasive thing that could possibly happen to the automobile. Cars were originally invented to give people freedom to go places they could not go previously. The current administration wants to take away those freedoms. And they want to take away your guns. Just think, you won’t be able to defend yourself, and if you try to get away, your car will apply the brakes every time you go 10 MPH over the speed limit, and you won’t be able to drive outside your car’s range. They will probably be able to prohibit your ability to obtain charging too if they want you.
Remember this next time you watch commercials from Allstate, et. al saying they will “reward you for safe driving”. Don’t be fooled by their false benevolence. What these insurance companies are really saying is “We will penalize you for what we decide is unsafe driving”. The solution may be to buy older used cars, without the spying gadgetry.
Between the government and insurance companies, we are being nannied to death… sad part is at this point the genie is long since out of the bottle… JB is correct when he suggests that the possible solution for those who don’t wish to play these games is driving older cars, perhaps not as saving us from ourselves safe but then what ever happened to the notion that we might need to be responsible… jus sayin…