Yesterday, the federal government’s primary car safety watchdog launched a process that will put anti-drunken-driving technology in every new car.…
Yesterday, the federal government’s primary car safety watchdog launched a process that will put anti-drunken-driving technology in every new car.
The move is nothing new. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in 2021 made it mandatory. But that provision of the law was little noticed at the time.
Related: New Law Will Require In-Car Anti-Drunk-Driving Tech
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) notes, “In 2021, the latest data available, 13,384 people were killed in drunk driving crashes.”
The Start of a Long Bureaucratic Process
The act requires NHTSA to publish rules explaining what technology will be required by the end of 2024. The agency started that process yesterday, publishing an “advance notice of proposed rulemaking.”
That’s the first mandatory step in the process of writing new federal regulations. It can take months or, in some cases, years.
Yesterday’s notice asks anyone interested to submit comments on what the rules should include. Typically, agencies take several months to write a proposed rule, consulting with safety experts and automakers. They then accept comments on the proposal for several more months, make changes based on those, and then publish a final rule. Final rules come with a waiting period before they take effect.
To use the most recent example, the Federal Trade Commission published a final rule yesterday prohibiting car dealers from adding surprise fees to car sales. It was proposed in June and takes effect next July.
Technology Could Take Many Forms
To start the process, NHTSA says, it will “gather information about the state of technology to detect impaired driving” and “about how to deploy technology safely and effectively.”
The news might have you picturing a Breathalyzer in every car, but the final rule may look very different than that.
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The law requires that “advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology must be standard equipment in all new passenger motor vehicles” but doesn’t define how NHTSA should accomplish that.
The National Transportation Safety Board — a body that investigates accidents and advises NHTSA but can’t write rules itself, recently called for “passive vehicle-integrated alcohol impairment detection systems, advanced driver monitoring systems or a combination of the two that would be capable of preventing or limiting vehicle operation if it detects driver impairment by alcohol.”
The word “passive” is doing important work there. Some courts have required drivers convicted of driving impaired to install Breathalyzer-type systems called “alcohol ignition interlocks.” These will prevent their cars from starting if they detect alcohol on the driver’s breath. The NTSB’s suggestion doesn’t mean automakers would install such systems on every vehicle.
NHTSA might decide that such devices are active countermeasures.
Many of today’s cars already have systems monitoring the driver’s attention. They work with hands-free highway driving assistants, like GM’s Super Cruise or Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system.
Some systems use a camera to track the driver’s eyes. Others use accelerometers to detect stable inputs to steering.
NHTSA could mandate such systems, which might detect an impaired driver. Since most automakers already build them into some cars, they could spread them to all cars to meet the new mandate.