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Chevy Malibu 'Teen Driver' Tech Will Snitch If You Speed
mpicpp writes General Motors wants to help curb teen crashes with a new system that lets parents monitor their kids' driving habits—even when mom and dad aren't actually in the car. Dubbed Teen Drive, the new system will debut in the 2016 Chevy Malibu, offering a bunch of features designed to encourage safe driving. It will, for instance, mute the radio or any device paired with the car when front seat occupants aren't wearing their seatbelts, and give audible and visual warnings when the vehicle is traveling faster than preset speeds. It doesn't end there. Brace yourself, teens, because you might not like this next part too much. The new system also lets parents view a readout of how you drove the car, including how fast you went, how far you drove, and whether any active safety features (like over-speed warnings) were engaged. Parents can also set the radio system's maximum volume to a lower level, and select a maximum speed between 40 and 75 miles per hour, which, if exceeded, will trigger warnings.
If it's like the Ford model that had a similar feature a few years ago, it's controlled by which key you use - regular key, valet key, teenager key. Yeah, most teens could easily swap keys with Mummy or Daddy, but then Mummy and Daddy will start getting warnings when they speed or play the radio too loud.
There's a growing intolerance for giving people the space to learn because 'safety' has become more important than exposure to graduated life lessons. Driving is one of them. Not letting teens drive just gives us all a bunch of 20 year olds who can't drive.
Because then you'll have shithead 20somethings on the road instead, with no parental supervision whatsoever.
The only way to learn to drive is to drive.
The difference is teens are much more shithead-like than 20-somethings (not that I haven't noticed the increasing prevalence of 20-something shitheads), and teens are often not held responsible (legally or financially) for their actions (further enabling shithead behavior).
Actually, numerous studies have shown that teen drivers are no worse than inexperienced drivers of any age. That's what prompted the gov't here in Ontario to change the licensing rules some time ago so that after your probationary period (the first 2-5 years that you have your license) you have to take a second road test, where they basically test how experienced you are (based on how you handle the car, etc.) to get your full license. The problem was in the past that many teens simply didn't drive during their probation period (many didn't have access to a car, for instance) and then they got their full unrestricted license with basically no driving experience whatsoever. They've now plugged that loophole and it is pretty much impossible to pass the second test without lots of driving experience.
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
My kids, who just turned 8, are unlikely to even learn how to drive. They'll live in a world where all cars are self-driving, and which report all location data to the security services for National Security. We'll be sold on the convenience of self-driving cars, in return for the manufacturers knowing where every car is at every moment. Since self-driving cars will be leased, and not sold (even if they were sold, vehicle registration takes care of the identification), they'll know, more or less, who is driving where and when. Those who drive themselves will be viewed with suspicion, and likely treated as subversive actors. Only a criminal would care if there's a record of their every move.
Before you shrug it off as "well so what if Ford knows where went?" Consider that the security services will certainly have complete access to all of that data, for National Security purposes, of course.
This isn't "tin foil hat" territory any more, it's standard fucking practice.
Celebrity worship is a poor substitute for Deity worship and costs more to boot.