NHTSA May Mandate That New Cars Broadcast Location, Direction and Speed

[MarPar]

Kinda cool, but scary at the same time....

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NHTSA May Mandate That New Cars Broadcast Location, Direction and Speed

By Terence P. Jeffrey - CNS News

November 19, 2013 - 4:10 PM

(CNSNews.com) - Before the end of this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will decide whether or not to begin the rulemaking process to mandate that newly manufactured cars include what is being called “vehicle-to-vehicle” (V2V) communications technology that constantly broadcasts via radio wave the car’s location, direction, speed and, possibly, even the number of passengers it is carrying.

“NHTSA expects to make a decision on V2V technology by the end of the year,” a spokesman for the agency told CNSNews.com.

That point was reaffirmed by NHTSA Administrator David Strickland in testimony in the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee today, where he said the agency will “decide this year whether to further advance the technology through regulatory action, additional research, or a combination of both.”

“We expect to issue decisions on light duty vehicles this year, followed by a decision on heavy-duty vehicles in 2014,” he said.

NHTSA sees this technology as the first step on a “continuum” of automotive evolution that will ultimately lead to fully automated vehicles navigated by internal electronics linked to external infrastructure, communications and database systems.

The upside of a government-mandated movement toward cars that are not controlled by the people riding in them is that it could make transportation safer, allow people to use time spent in a vehicle for work, rest or entertainment, and give people who are currently incapable of driving because of age or disability the opportunity to move as freely as those who can now drive.

The downside is that such a transportation system would give the government at least the capability to exert increasing control over when, where, if--or for how much additional taxation--people are allowed to go places in individually owned vehicles. It could also give government the ability to track where people go and when...

more

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...w-cars-broadcast-location-direction-and-speed

 

[Budnicks]

Damn that's just sad, driverless cars eventually, You know it's a risk to get out of bed in the morning or crossing the street too, I guess we will all be forced to stay in bed & not be allowed to cross the street next... Breathing air or drinking water causes cancer, I guess we all need to stop breathing & drinking, that seems to be the kind of logic here, I don't get that stupid over the top control mentality.... GD freaken' govt. POS lawmaker's/House & Senate or the Libiots in the WH, just leave us alone, leave our cars alone, quit making more & more stupid freaken' expensive laws & utterly idiotic federal reg.'s, to comply to... One of the only things I actually like doing, is driving, now they want or are trying to make that obsolete too... A great reason to keep & drive old cars, but they will make us retrofit them too, or just take them off the road altogether probably... 1984 & Big Brother's world is coming... I hope I'm not around to see that Progressive world, where we have no risk, no fun, no choices, no common sense, no rights...

 

[barnfind]

They'll pry my mopar and guns from my cold dead fingers!!!
Bwahhaha!

 

[Bruzilla]

V2V might, and it's a really BIG might, provide the services mentioned in the article, but the stinky bag in that garbage is why mandate a technology be added to vehicles now when the technology required to achieve the stated results doesn't exist, is still being designed, and when designed will likely cost more than any one wants to pay to buy and use?

The actual reason V2V is being required is it's the only way that per mile taxation systems, that many states and locations are now considering, can be implemented. With that system in place, your state, city, county, etc., will all know how many miles you drive, when you drive, where you drive, and how many people are with you, which enables a ton of taxes and fees to be assessed. You can pay for every mile, pay more for miles driven during prime time and less for off hours, pay more for carrying passengers, or whatever any government wishes to charge you.

And worse, absent a Federal ban on this nonsense, which isn't in the cards, these taxes and fees won't be limited to states or the Federal government, which means once politicians at all levels of government can do this, you'll be paying Federal fees, county fees, city fees, town fees, borough fees, etc., and it'll all me made possible, and enforceable, by V2V.

 

[barnfind]

Correct me if Im wrong but don't we already pay state and fed tax for the (part of it) going to roads??If so it sounds like a double taxation

 

[Jonnyuma]

Welcome to the survelliance state...Medical survelliance, turning doctors into government spies. Cameras, drones, mandatory GPS providing the ability and means to track, tax, ticket, and shut down you and your vehicle.

The United States' government has a new enemy, a new target. The watch-list has grown by 300+ million and you're on it. It's funny how the useful idiots who lost thier GD minds over the misleadingly named Patriot Act(s), (Dubya wants to know what you're checking out at the library!!) are quiet on all of this intrusion and Constitution trampling. Don't even get me started on the dangers of the current militarizing of OUR police departments and what that means. Sometimes the conspiracy theorists are right.

 

[Meep-Meep]

I think OR is working on a pilot program something like this. I agree it's amazing technology but not happy about the gov't getting more and more power.

 

[GrabberOrange69]

...mandate that newly manufactured cars include what is being called “vehicle-to-vehicle” (V2V) communications technology that constantly broadcasts via radio wave the car’s location, direction, speed and, possibly, even the number of passengers it is carrying...It could also give government the ability to track where people go and when...

No problem.

I'll build a F@cking radio jammer that will render it blind to big brother. Plug it into your cigarette lighter. I'll market it as a kit where you have to assemble the last few pieces yourself (to remain legal). Drive where, how, and when you want.

I'll sell a sh*tload of them.

Peace out.

 

[Dennis H]

Look how well-run DMV and now health care is. ;)

 

[Clay Dots]

Nothing cool about this! its all about control, they are selling us out for more taxation and looking for ways to stop or hinder your travel freedoms, and generate more fees and fines, what a shame we continue to give up our lives to political zealots, I hope everyone expresses contempt and disqust to this kind of legistation.. Vote this out! before its too late!

 

[rtmike]

The government's gonna need a catastrophe to implement their latest rounds of restricting more of our freedoms'.

 

[Someotherguy]

Welcome to the survelliance state...Medical survelliance, turning doctors into government spies. Cameras, drones, mandatory GPS providing the ability and means to track, tax, ticket, and shut down you and your vehicle.

The United States' government has a new enemy, a new target. The watch-list has grown by 300+ million and you're on it. It's funny how the useful idiots who lost thier GD minds over the misleadingly named Patriot Act(s), (Dubya wants to know what you're checking out at the library!!) are quiet on all of this intrusion and Constitution trampling. Don't even get me started on the dangers of the current militarizing of OUR police departments and what that means. Sometimes the conspiracy theorists are right.

My thoughts exactly...

 

[Moparsmitty]

So let me get this straight. They are saying that part of this technology will eventually lead to cars that drive themselves (driverless cars)? So what if I'm the only one on the road that is actually driving my old car? Does that mean that the driverless cars on the road with me will avoid hitting me no matter what I do? Sounds pretty good to me if their cars will automatically get the hell out of my way.

 

[barnfind]

No problem.

I'll build a F@cking radio jammer that will render it blind to big brother. Plug it into your cigarette lighter. I'll market it as a kit where you have to assemble the last few pieces yourself (to remain legal). Drive where, how, and when you want.

I'll sell a sh*tload of them.

Peace out.

A nice magnet on or near the antanae (sp)does the same thing

 

[Bruzilla]

Correct me if Im wrong but don't we already pay state and fed tax for the (part of it) going to roads??If so it sounds like a double taxation

You are correct Sir! You do already pay taxes. Every time you fuel up, 18.4 cents of what you pay for a gallon of gas, or 24.4 cents for a gallon of diesel, goes to the Federal government and is supposed to be used for highway and transportation projects, either at the Federal or state level. In addition, each state adds their own taxes (in your case, ND adds 41.4 cents for gas and 47.4 cents per diesel) that supplement the Federal highway funds.

The problem is that all these taxes were great when cars were getting 10-12 MPG, but now cars are averaging 25-35 MPG, we have hybrids and electrics, and people are driving less, which means fewer gallons of fuel are being sold, which means fewer tax dollars are being generated. This is why you have several states pushing the mandating of equipment such as V2V so that they can track how and when a driver is driving and assess a tax based on how much you drive. Oregon is close to, or might already have, enacted a law that requires this tax. Once that precedent is set, California won't be far behind, and then everyone else will jump on the bandwagon, which is why the NHTSA is pushing this now instead of waiting for a consumer need to be identified.

What these states are saying is that these new per mile taxes will replace the taxes they currently collect on gasoline sales, but that is not likely to happen. You would need to engineer, fund, and deploy an entirely new system for dispensing gasoline so that the vender knows what gasoline is being pumped into a car with V2V and which is being pumped into a non-V2V vehicle since no per mile tax can be collected from those cars and the regular tax would still need to be collected. And how about the golden rule of commerce that if you want less of something, tax it? Once you start taxing on a per mile basis, that's going to radically change peoples' driving habits, and not for the better of the revenue stream as people will find ways to put fewer miles on their vehicles, which revenues will lesson even more. So what is most likely to happen is the per mile taxes will be implemented for newer cars, but pump taxes will still be required. The taxes may be lowered to gain voter support, but then they will gradually be raised.

And again, the biggest problem is every municipality has some financial obligation towards road, road management, bridge management, etc., which means they all have revenue requirements, and this technology makes it a breeze for them to collect new taxes.

 

[GrabberOrange69]

A nice magnet on or near the antanae (sp)does the same thing

Nice - didn't think about that. But a "smart" jammer that could transmit coordinates for say...any place you wanted would be nice.

"Hey uncle sam, I'm off to Walmart", when really you're going to the gun show/shooting range etc.

 

[Jonnyuma]

The biggest problem with the fully automated cars from the techie standpoint is that they can't make the software hack-proof. Pretty much all the rest has been thought out.

Eventually the fascists in the federal government will start withholding funding to the states who don't implement cash for clunkers type programs, which will be succeeded by other means to confiscate and destroy "old" vehicles. Onerous emissions standards, taxes, special environmental liability insurance, eventually leading to an outright ban like China instituted recently banning vehicles over 15 yrs old from public streets.

If anyone ever doubted that elections have consequences, the current state of affairs and the promise of more of the same oughtta be a wake-up call.