‘Constant surveillance’: Mitsubishi tech fail reveals massive problem on our roads

A piece of technology that was supposed to make driving safer has instead caused a massive problem on our roads, Caleb Bond writes.

OPINION

Who put the technology in charge of us?

We designed all this stuff. It’s meant to be subservient – but instead of the technology being scared of us, we’re now scared of the technology.

Using a self-service checkout feels a bit like talking to your mother-in-law.

You’re trying your best, you want to do all the right things, but she comes through at the last moment to inform you that, in fact, you have it all wrong and you’re just chewing gum on the shoes of life.

And so it went in the new Mitsubishi Triton with its quote-unquote “driver monitoring system”.

That sounds scary enough – and it’s even scarier when you realise it’s a camera that watches your movements and facial expressions to determine whether you’re driving attentively.

Sipping a coffee, laughing and checking your blind spot – something quite essential to safe driving – all set off the system.

It beeped and bonged and carried on so much that the car manufacturer has now been forced to wind back its sensitivity because the distraction of the upbraiding was more dangerous than whatever the driver was doing in the first place.

‘An hour in the car is the only time some of us have – without phones or cameras or nagging people – to be alone with our thoughts.’ Picture: Nigel Hallett

You’re under constant surveillance wherever you go now. An hour in the car is the only time some of us have – without phones or cameras or nagging people – to be alone with our thoughts.

Now they’re trying to take that away from us, too.

I suspect it actually makes us worse drivers as it encourages complete reliance on technology.

Car tech is advantageous to a point. Reverse cameras and sensors, for instance, are a great help.

But if the car takes control of everything, then what responsibility does the driver bear? What happens when the technology fails (ask CrowdStrike about that) and you have to take control?

I don’t need my car to tell me off for glancing down at the radio for a few seconds.

If you can’t work out what is and isn’t dangerous, then you shouldn’t be on the road in the first place.

An unsafe driver with overbearing technology is not a safer driver – they’re just an unsafe driver with a fallible safety blanket.

Technology is getting out of control, Caleb Bond writes. Picture: Tricia Watkinson

They never have to improve their skills because the car makes up for their shortcomings.

And if that’s not bad enough, just consider the broader implications of facial recognition technology hardwired into your car.

The New York Times revealed earlier this year that major manufacturers, including General Motors, were collecting driving data from their vehicles – such as how heavily you brake and the speeds at which you drive – and selling that to insurers via a third party company.

Tesla employees had access to vision captured by cameras attached to their cars and shared compromising videos with each other via private messages – including one of a man approaching his car completely naked.

And we’re meant to accept that all this technology is simply for our safety?

Data is the most valuable resource in the modern world, be it from a monetary or embarrassment perspective.

You can barely enjoy privacy anywhere. Once the cars are gone, then you may as well set up a livestream from your bathroom because, heck – there will be nothing else left to hide.

Originally published as ‘Constant surveillance’: Mitsubishi tech fail reveals massive problem on our roads