Brickbat: Backseat Driver

Starting July 6, all new vehicles sold in the European Union and Northern Ireland will come with mandatory intelligent speed assistance, which will cause the vehicle to beep or vibrate and eventually slow down if the driver exceeds the speed limit. The technology was introduced as an option by many manufacturers in 2015. It was mandated by the E.U. in 2022, but drivers at that time had the option of switching it off.

Comments

[SQRLSY One]

How long till GPS and auto-pilot will disallow using your car to go to the protest zone? Or will auto-drive you to the doctor or parole officer if you've missed too many appointments?

[ducksalad]

I give it 15 years. Seriously.

[Jerry B.]

So, is this for safety, or emissions? Who should we blame for this stupidity?

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Government, it's always government.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Yup, it's for control.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

Specifically, speed control...

[Don't look at me!]

How are we going to make up for the lost speeding ticket revenues?

[Vernon Depner]

Not content to watch you, Big Brother is crawling up your ass.

[Chumby]

This will be great when the Russians hack the system assigning speed limits to lower them all.

[Quicktown Brix]

Also helpful for road-ragers to get off better shots at a slow moving targets.

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

And by Russians you mean the Clinton Foundation, working on contract for the DNC-DOT?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Brexit looking better by the moment.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

The only good thing Brexit has done for me personally is to keep me from having to worry about speed traps when driving in the EU: cross-border prosecution was never enabled even when the UK was in the EU, but post-Brexit the Euros can't even request registration information so their police (or, more likely, private contractors) now can't send threatening letters in an attempt to collect whatever might have been potentially owed for any minor transgressions.

Obviously, I always drive safely (not like a Belgian), so I probably haven't saved a lot of money over the past few years, but not having to worry about it is reward enough. Thanks, BoJo!

[mad.casual]

... but their cabotage laws are fantastic!!!

[Longtobefree]

In an unrelated story, EU new car sales have taken an unexpected drop.
Government economists are mystified.

[jimc5499]

All right. I have the car's schematic, where did I put my wire cutters?

[Earth-based Human Skeptic]

Breaking news: after banning butter knives last year, the UK government will now outlaw wire cutters.

[ObviouslyNotSpam]

If there's a will, there's a way (it's certainly possible to hack automotive computers--I have a hacked ECM in my car right now), but they will never get full compliance until they ban older vehicles. I assume the authorities will eventually remove the option to drive them, but that is still a long way down the road.

(Don't be so smug, fellow Americans--you won't be the first, but you won't be the last.)

[ducksalad]

Nah, requires straining your back to get under the dashboard or seat.

Masking tape over the front camera and aluminum foil over the GPS antenna ought to do it.

[TangoDelta]

I remember seeing a video on youtube some years ago where they were showing how to disable the OnStar cellular radio in one car or another while keeping the GPS. Not the easiest but not terrible, I imagine they've fixed that to make it much harder and I wouldn't be surprised if those types of videos aren't banned soon, especially in the EU.

[ducksalad]

I wouldn't be surprised if the third or fourth version of the mandatory system simply won't let the car start without a GPS signal and a recognizable image on the front camera.

At which point we'll need to move on to doing some actual cutting of wires and patching in fake GPS and video feeds. Both of which are within the range of a serious hobbyist.

[Longtobefree]

So can the choice to 'switch it off' be overridden by the EU masters?

[Lester75]

My BIL would love this tech for my niece who has a lead foot.

[Minadin]

Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond hardest hit. James May, not so much.

[Nazi-Chipping Warlock]

Awwww. Poor Captain Slow...

[AT]

Well, I disabled the dinging seatbelt nanny in my car. I'm sure I can figure out how to disable this too.