Police can’t access new car kill switch starting in 2026

President Joe Biden signed into law a $1 trillion infrastructure deal in November 2021, allocating funds for everything from roads and bridges to high-speed internet.

Now, more than a year later, some Everyone on social media is declaring legislation requiring all new vehicles manufactured after 2026 to have a remotely accessible “kill switch” that others can use to turn off your car .

a tweet posted on November 1st has been shared thousands of times claiming that the police or other government agencies can access the switch remotely.

Does Biden’s infrastructure deal require a remote “kill switch” that police can use to turn off cars?

The claim that Biden’s infrastructure deal requires a remote “kill switch” that is accessible to the police is misleading.

The agreement calls for the development of technology that can “prevent or limit” the operation of a vehicle if a person is intoxicated or impaired. But it’s not a remotely controlled “kill switch” that police can use to shut down someone’s vehicle.

The Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act, signed by Biden in November 2021, doesn’t include any language about the “kill switch” that police and the federal government can access to block. your vehicle.

What it includes is a provision intended to prevent drunk driving deaths.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a federal agency under the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), said the law directs DOT to issue a required safety standard. require the installation of less advanced driving prevention technology in new vehicles.

By law, the technology won’t be installed in new cars until 2026 at the earliest.

Jeffrey Michael, a prominent scholar at Johns Hopkins University and an expert on road safety, said that although there is no exact definition for “kill switch,” the term often refers to a electronic switches that can cut power to one’s vehicle. The provision in the infrastructure agreement, he said, “is not a remote kill switch that reports the driver to the police.

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The infrastructure agreement does not describe the specific technology, although it does say that the system will be able to passively monitor drivers’ performance to determine if they may be impaired or detect if concentrations their blood alcohol (BAC) is above the legal limit. If a person has a defect, the system can “prevent or limit the operation of the motor vehicle”.

That means the system in the car will detect the impairment and it won’t be controlled by people or anything outside the car.

The technology will be required as standard equipment in all new vehicles before they go on sale.

Passive technology systems to prevent drunk driving already exist today, and others are under development, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), a nonprofit that advocates for the law and work with legislators.

Alex Otte, MADD’s national president, told VERIFY:

• One is driving performance monitoring, which includes technologies like automatic braking, lane departure warning and lane assist that are already available as an extra feature on many new cars, she said.

• The second is driver monitoring. This type of technology could include cameras in the rearview mirror or dashboard that monitor the driver’s eyes for signs of impairment.

• Finally, the technology could fall under the alcohol detection category, which could use breath- or touch-based sensors to determine how much alcohol a driver has consumed. It won’t require the driver to blow into the tube like some have statement on social media.

“Depending on the technology chosen, the vehicle will not start, will not move or will somehow disable the vehicle,” Otte said. “However, that is based on the technology in the car and how it perceives whether the person is driving safely.”

Otte added that “nobody outside the vehicle,” including law enforcement, will be able to stop the vehicle or prevent it from starting.

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NHTSA is mandated to set standards for intoxicated and impaired driving technology in new vehicles within three years or before 2024. Manufacturers will then have two to three years to develop new vehicles. deploy this technology.

According to NHTSA, there will be a public announcement and comment period for the legislation.

Several advocacy groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have expressed concern about the technology and how it might impact people with disabilities.

Jay Stanley, senior policy analyst with the ACLU’s Technology, Privacy, and Speech Project, wrote in November 2021 that the provision raises questions about whether such systems could be misclassify certain persons with disabilities as intoxicated and where the collected data may be stored.

In response, MADD said it “confides in the automotive industry’s immense technological ability to develop a system that identifies signs of impairment caused by alcohol and other drugs and does not negatively affect People with disabilities.”

“NHTSA’s rule-making process will evaluate the best technologies to meet Congress’ mandate for passive systems that affect only motorists attempting to drive when impaired,” this non-profit organization adds.

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