NEW CAMERAS

New technology is set to be rolled out in an attempt to ‘clamp down on drunk and drug-affected motorists’.

The same Melbourne-based company responsible for cameras that detect when people are using their mobile phones, speeding and not wearing a seatbelt, is ‘now turning its attention to those under the influence’.

Acusensus (the company) is hoping its “groundbreaking artificial intelligence” will be able to “separate the impaired drivers from the rest and send off an alert to police”.

Officers would then pull the driver over for a random breath test and test them for alcohol or drugs.

It would measure the “attentiveness“, “reaction time“, “control” and “impairment levels“.

This monitoring of motorists will occur in real-time.

Yes, not only will Nanny states be checking for mobile phones and seatbelts (arguably reasonable measures), but now computer intelligence will be used to observe and determine if someone is ‘drunk’ or not?

Sound a bit Orwellian to you?

Known as ‘Heads Up tech’, which is supported by the Federal Office of Road Safety and Griffith University, cameras would be looking for drivers who speed, swerve or move out of their lanes.

‘Swerved to the left a little bit? Camera 4506 says you need a breath test!‘

How far is this type of intrusive technology going to go in the name of ‘safety’ and ‘security’?

What’s next? Cameras that can read your thoughts before you speed over a speed limit?

We would be living in a giant episode of Minority Report at that point, but it isn’t completely impossible.

But seriously, what happened to good old fashioned breath test set ups? Without mass predictive surveillance?

Authorities say this type of screening is hoped to one day be set up in fixed cameras or trailers.

Is the show RBT still on television? Will they just be sitting only in trucks in the future awaiting computer instructions?

Acusensus Founder, Alexander Jannink, is confident the technology will ‘drive down deaths on our roads’.

“When you look at drivers who are involved in fatal accidents, 40 per cent of those drivers actually have drugs and alcohol in their system,” he told reporters.

“If we can arm police with the right tools to fix and address this problem, those crashes will really come down, and in Australia hundreds of lives could be saved.”

Ah yes, the old ‘it will save more lives’ speech.

Of course followed by the good old ‘give the police more power and resources’ closer.

Let’s not discuss the actual source of the problems, no.

More power and spying is the only solution, according to authorities who hope to trial this technology.

And we shouldn’t be surprised, as this type of ‘justification’ has been used at every step to get to this point.

For you see the truth is they don’t actually want to help.

Because these deaths on the road will be used as the reasoning as to why robots and AI should take over our driving duties completely not too far ahead into the future. All by design.

THE AI TAKEOVER

Accidents, or ‘human error’, has always been used to enforce more and more road regulations over time.

First with seat beat requirements and breathalysers, and now to the tech and AI takeover.

Not just the cameras, but in all facets of the automobile.

More recently, for example, it was announced all new Queensland license plates will be embedded with RFID tracking technology.

The problem is.. there are still over one thousand deaths each year on Australian roads.

These projects have become simply about revenue raising, rather than actual care for citizens, while all getting us ready for the AI vehicle revolution that is just around the corner.

Australia is experiencing an increased shift towards autonomous technology in vehicles, underpinned by surveillance capabilities that can document and record activity in new model releases.

Currently, 15 trials are underway in Australia, with RAC’s Intellibus in Perth ahead of the pack. In operation for three years, it’s one of only a handful worldwide coping with live traffic.

This includes the autonomous mini-bus travelling around Sydney’s Olympic Park.

In addition, last year, Melbourne launched the “world’s smartest” AI traffic-management system:

The “world’s smartest” AI traffic-management system has launched in Melbourne

Slowly, but surely, over time these vehicles and systems will replace private vehicle ownership completely, once again justified as the answer to our worries of human error on the roads.