Engine Turnoff

R.A. Hettinga rah at shipwright.com
Tue Oct 16 19:39:31 PDT 2007


<http://www.spectator.org/util/print.asp?art_id=12170>


Spectator.org

Engine Turnoff

By Eric Peters

Published 10/16/2007 12:07:44 AM


Big Brother may be about to get just a bit bigger.

General Motors just announced a new and improved version of its OnStar
telematics system that could be used to shut your car's engine off (or at
least, cut back the power) remotely.

Touted as a "safety" feature (of course), the upgraded version of OnStar
would give external authorities (law enforcement -- and, of course, GM) the
ability to send out a signal keyed to the car's on board computer, which in
turn would ease off the gas -- no matter how hard you're putting foot down.
GPS-equipped cars already can be located in real time at any time, whether
moving or stationary. The "enhanced" version of OnStar would, however, be
the first use of satellite technology to physically control the vehicle and
supersede the driver.

The system goes live in 2009, when GM will begin offering it on more than
1.7 million new cars and trucks. Chevrolet will lead the way -- with up to
60 percent of '09 models fitted with "enhanced" OnStar.

So what's wrong with the idea? Is it cabin-in-the-woods paranoia to be
concerned about what, after all, could be a valuable tool for law
enforcement?

The answer depends to a great extent on how much you trust the government.

Certainly, the use of "enhanced" OnStar to stop high-speed car chases and
retrieve stolen cars is hard to argue with. But will that be all the
technology is used for?

Consider this:

The insurance industry is at this very moment lobbying Congress to impose
electronic speed governors on heavy trucks -- limiting them to no faster
than 68 mph. Surprisingly, the trucking industry isn't completely opposed
to the idea -- provided electronic speed limiters are also fitted to
ordinary passenger vehicles, too. Fair's fair, right?

Now add a dash of "enhanced" OnStar to the brew.

Come 2009, it will be technically feasible to make speeding impossible. A
modern car is controlled by computers; the computers are now tied into GPS
systems such as OnStar -- which have the ability to send and receive
electronic transmissions, including instructions that tell the computer how
to run the car. "Smart" speed limit signs can now be fitted with
transmitters; when a car with "enhanced" OnStar comes into range, the
transmitter tells the car's computer what the maximum allowable speed shall
be -- and ye shall drive no faster.

Welcome to the future.

"Technology should not just entertain us or make us more comfortable,"
croons NHTSA Administrator Nicole R. Nason. "It should make us safer." Of
course. And what could be safer than making speeding an impossibility? If
you haven't heard this argument voiced openly, just wait. It's coming as
sure as Lindsay Lohan's next DWI. The safety nags have been patiently
waiting for years for technology to catch up to their agenda.

Courtesy of GM, that day has arrived.

Our friends in the insurance and safety lobbies will soon be urging that
this "optional" technology become a mandatory feature on every new car.
Speeding is illegal, right? Who is going to argue in favor of allowing the
automakers to continue building and selling cars capable of being driven
30, 40, 50 mph faster than the highest lawfully allowable maximum?

What about the children, after all?

And if that's not alarming enough, consider the likely follow-up. Once all
new cars are fitted with in-car speed nannies, the glassy eye of government
will very likely turn its gaze upon older cars -- especially older
pre-computer cars, which can't be electronically controlled because there
is no on-board electronic controller. The old car hobby is already (justly)
alarmed by recent changes in antique/classic car licensing and registration
laws -- which are making it harder and more expensive to keep an older car
on the road.

In Virginia, for example, changes to the laws governing antique vehicle
registration now empower police to conduct what amount to "roadside safety
checks." If the cop decides your antique vehicle doesn't meet this or that
jot or tittle of the law, he can seize your plates on the spot and have
your antique vehicle towed to the impound lot -- notwithstanding that most
cops don't have any specific knowledge of what is or isn't "right" about
decades-old vehicles.

Now the authorities have a new tool in their kit. A cudgel by which they
cannot only beat speeders into submission -- but which could very well be
used to take older cars off the road forever. Consider yourself warned.

And remember to say "thanks, GM."


Eric Peters is an automotive columnist and author of Automotive Atrocities
(MBI).

-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'





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