U.S. auto-safety regulators say they are working on the technology to prevent intoxicated drivers from being able to start a vehicle and that it will require carmakers to adopt that new technology within the next few years, according to Reuters.
The move was set into motion three years ago by Congress when it directed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to create regulations requiring “advanced drunk and impaired driving prevention technology” in vehicles in 2021′s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, according to Wired.
In 2021, the most recent year for road death statistics, 13,384 people died in alcohol-impaired driving traffic deaths.
The law requires a technology safety standard by November 2024 if the technology is ready.
Several technologies exist today that could stop an impaired person from being able to start a vehicle - such as using a type of Breathalyzer that measures how much alcohol is in a person’s blood. Whatever technology the NHTSA chooses must be proven to work every time and the agency must give automakers three years to install it in vehicles.
“We are trying to see, can we get it done, does the technology exist in a way that is going to work every time,” Ann Carlson, the acting NHTSA administrator said Tuesday.
The NHTSA on Tuesday published an “advance notice of proposed rulemaking” to begin the process of gathering information on new technology.
Carlson pointed out that whatever technology is chosen, it has to work since there are some 1 billion divers on U.S. roads daily and even a small margin of error means big numbers.
“If it’s [only] 99.9% accurate, you could have a million false positives,” Carlson said. “Those false positives (meaning the technology thinks a person is impaired when they are not) could be somebody trying to get to the hospital for an emergency.”
In documents that accompanied Tuesday’s announcement, the NHTSA acknowledged that putting the tech in vehicles could be unpopular.
“Misbelief that there exists a right to drive while drunk have resulted in some individuals believing that this rulemaking is pursuing a course of action that might unduly infringe upon their rights,” the agency wrote.
