Digital spies in your new car will let authorities know where you're going, who you're with, and if you've committed any motoring offences on every journey.
The use of mandatory speed limiters together with data loggers on all new cars has been approved by the European Parliament and the UK Government alike, and manufacturers are already adding the devices to new vehicles.
Speed limiters, Dubbed Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), will use GPS data and/or traffic sign recognition cameras to determine the speed limit of the road a vehicle is travelling on. Engine power will then be limited to match this, preventing the car from exceeding the speed limit.
There will be a momentary option to 'override the limiter pushing hard on the throttle, If you think you can simply keep pressing a little harder on the throttle to break through the system, think again. ETSC states that: ‘If the driver continues to drive above the speed limit for several seconds, the system should sound a warning for a few seconds and display a visual warning until the vehicle is operating at or below the speed limit again.’ All Fords and Volvos sold in the last two years have secretly had the device fitted, ready to be activated.
The systems will be required on all new models given ‘type’ approval from May 2022, with all models on the market before that date required to adopt the tech by May 2024. With the recent confirmation of the UK’s adoption of the technology came interesting news from the Department for Transport, stating that it expects limiters "to give drivers feedback when the speed limit is exceeded rather than limiting the speed" with a reduction in engine power as previously understood.
Speed limiters is not the only thing being installed in new cars to ensure you are obeying laws and diktats, all new vehicles will come with data loggers, that will record your location, speed, distance travelled, car's telemetry and a host of other factors the government deem important. European Transport and Safety Council say the system will come with a full on/off switch 'initially'. This is only “to aid public acceptance at introduction” however, that is time limited and you won't be able to switch off any of the functions from May 2024 when the systems will come into force.
Civil rights campaigners have raised concerns about the data loggers which the government appear vague about reasons for implementing. The Department for Transport have said that the devices are all part of road safety improvement, but it is unclear how knowing your whereabouts at all times will improve road safety. The devices will enable authorities to know where you are, who you're with, where you've come from, where you're going, how fast you're going, any road traffic offences you may have unknowingly committed and a load of other personal and private information.
A recent poll by Parkers.co.uk found that of those asked 75% of drivers said they didn't want monitoring devices in their cars. Whilst only 10% of people polled knew their car had the device fitted already.
The car company will, no doubt, sell this information about you to third parties in the same way Google and Facebook do, but the concern is that Government will also be given these data enabling the monitoring of citizens like never before. It is difficult to see what 'safety' will be improved by motorists having to hand-over personal information in this way. It appears like yet another Orwellian style power-grab that we didn't vote for, wasn't in any party's manifesto, and nobody wants. And, if you think that the government-mandated 'spies' will be passive you have clearly not been paying attention. In all likelihood the technology will mean that the government will be able to 'deactivate' your car should it deem necessary.
With this technology the government will not only know everything about you they'll have the power to 'deactivated' your car at the flick of a switch. Deactivating millions of new cars remotely will make Climate Lockdowns much easier to enforce.
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