Automotive 'Kill Switches' Are Being Debated In Congress Again

So-called automotive kill switches are behind schedule and once again being discussed within the halls of Congress. Included as a provision within the Biden Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, requirements for advanced driving interlock devices have been a contentious issue. While the relevant technologies are arguably at our doorstep, very little progress has been made in regard to how federal agencies plan to handle them and Republicans are now trying to walk back the supporting legislation.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was a whopping $1.2 trillion dollars and included around $550 billion for new investments loosely tied to infrastructure programs. The legislation was so massive (at over 1,000 pages) that congress has revisited it on numerous occasions to more closely examine some of the components that undoubtedly went unread before its passing. Among those items was a provision to mandate technologies that would allow a vehicle to determine whether or not someone was fit to drive, which is presently being reviewed via congressional hearings.

The stated claim was to build a system that would effectively prohibit drunk driving and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was tasked with ironing out the details to ensure it was implemented before 2026. However, the window for the NHTSA to present its proposal for “advanced impaired driving technology” came and went last November.

Now, Republican lawmakers are pitching amendments that would remove that provision from the existing legislation. Some have also launched legislation of their own designed to combat any future instances of what they’d consider government overreach.

For example, H.R. 6563 was introduced by Representative Scott Perry (R-PA) in 2023 and is known as the “No Kill Switches in Cars Act.” It effectively seeks to repeal any provisions that would require the implementation of any technology that would allow vehicles to be disabled under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act after 2026. The legislation has also received a sudden increase in support since January of 2025, although much of it was heavily politicized.

“The Biden administration and Congressional Democrats’ blatant overreach knows no bounds — from our schools to the gas stoves in our kitchens to our cars,” Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX) said following his endorsement. “I’m proud to sponsor this bill to tell them that enough is enough. We must stand up for the American people by protecting their privacy and ensuring their vehicles can never be arbitrarily disabled and shut down.”

On Wednesday, Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) called the premise of adding driver monitoring and kill switches “Orwellian” and stated that any mandates for them must be repealed. His concerns, voiced during a congressional hearing on the topic, center around the likelihood of false positives inconveniencing countless drivers and the potential for the hardware to be abused by bad actors.

Massie’s other criticisms were focused around claims that the overriding plan is unethical and unconstitutional (particularly in regard to the 4th Amendment). But he also claimed that the technologies required to create the systems don’t yet exist and are effectively fantastical, when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. Michael Hanson, who was representing the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) in support of the plan at the hearing, addressed this by stating that the necessary hardware was already in play.

Ignition interlock devices, used to curtail drunk driving, have been around for decades. Once they’re wired into a vehicle, usually by way of a court order, a driver is required to blow into a breathalyzer in order to start the vehicle. If the hardware detects someone has been drinking, the vehicle will remain inoperable.

But the modern equipment being pitched as part of the legislation is quite a bit different. The federal government is adamant that it wants to have “passive” systems that can determine the status of a driver without the need of a breathalyzer. The Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) program has been working with automakers, chemists, and the government to develop what would effectively be an integrated breathalyzer that constantly estimates blood-alcohol content from the surrounding cabin air. Meanwhile, those and other groups have been trying to perfect camera-based systems that would use visual cues to make similar assessments.

This is particularly important because the European Union has already mandated that new vehicles will need to come equipped with loads of automated safety equipment (e.g. automatic emergency braking, lane keeping, event data recorders, etc) along with interior cameras that will actively monitor a driver’s face to determine whether or not they’re operating the vehicle in a safe manner.

Their systems are being implemented under the auspices of promoting safer and less-distracted driving, whereas ours is being sold primarily as a way of preventing drunk driving. However, the end result will be largely the same — in-cabin cameras that effectively track your every movement and more expensive equipment that will raise the MSRP of every automobile on the road.

Automakers likewise appear to prefer the above and have been running with camera-based strategies when developing solutions for both Europe and the United States. After all, they’ve been the ones adding all this technology to vehicles and have stated that software-defined vehicles and enhanced connectivity features would be the future of their business.

Vehicles equipped with the most advanced forms of driver assistance (e.g. Ford’s BlueCruise, General Motors’ SuperCruise or Tesla’s FSD) now typically come with interior cameras pointed at the driver. The system constantly monitors the drivers eye and head position to determine whether or not they’re paying attention as the vehicle “drives itself.” Cars determining that the driver has become impaired, fallen unconscious, or is simply not paying enough attention to the road ahead will attempt to pull themselves off the road.

These camera systems, which are already being mandated in Europe, could very easily be adapted for the United States’ purposes. Disabling modern vehicles is also easier than it would have been in the past. With all modern cars featuring drive-by-wire controls and perpetual internet connectivity, a manufacturer could theoretically disable most new automobiles on demand. However, the legislation would seek to have the car disable itself based on a set of parameters designed to determine whether or not someone was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

As things currently stand, more U.S. legislators are coming out against the premise and the NHTSA is behind schedule in terms of implementation. But the industry continues developing the relevant technologies and looks as though they’ll be fielding them via Europe’s updated General Safety Regulations (GSRs). That may make all of the debate currently taking place around mandated driver surveillance and automotive kill switches irrelevant. OEMs are already installing the applicable hardware into modern vehicles and could presumably adapt them for government needs using over-the-air updates.

The deciding factor will presumably be the public response, however. Manufacturers seem happy to add the tech to vehicles while lawmakers bicker about the details. But consumers are already disenfranchised with modern automotive trends and may not tolerate a situation where literally every new model is poised to track their every move. Privacy within one's own vehicle has become a major issue for drivers in recent years and not something everyone is willing to compromise on, especially when it’ll just require them to spend more money. It’s certainly not a line your author is willing to cross, even if it requires modifications to future vehicles that might someday be considered illegal. But your mileage may vary and I’m certainly not about to offer anyone legal advice.

[Image: Adam McCullough/Shutterstock]

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