New GM tech seeks to cure an overlooked safety issue

If you drive anywhere near a busy city or congested metro area, it’s more than likely that you have had one of those days during your morning commute. One where the traffic or a driver that cut you off makes you wish you didn’t wake up and causes the rest of your day to suck. 

Naturally, some drivers will turn to road rage, which can be detrimental not only to you, but to other drivers out on the road. With such behavior so prevalent out on the roads, General Motors  (GM)  has come up with a way to squash it and keep drivers cool and collected. 

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The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on May 16 published a patent filing from the Detroit-based automaker for a system called the “Vehicle Occupant Mental Wellbeing Assessment and Countermeasure Deployment.”

Here, a collection of different sensors and electronic modules mounted throughout the interior evaluates what is going on inside the car, and depending on the situation, will use a series of countermeasures to prevent what GM describes as an “undesirable situation.” 

According to GM, the system is meant to access the “mental well-being of a driver while driving the vehicle and deploying a countermeasure in response to a mindfulness level of the driver being beyond a desired range,” as such behaviors can “induce stress and distraction sufficient to impact an ability of a driver to make decisions, react to external objects and actions, and otherwise operate the vehicle in a desirable manner.”

Basically, the various sensors and telemetry of GM’s new systems are designed to observe a driver’s behavior behind the wheel, and if it finds that your mental state isn’t where its at because you’re cussing out other drivers, giving them the finger, pouncing on the accelerator or aggressively switching lanes without signaling; the system will activate and try to calm you down in various ways. 

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GM says that in less serious situations, a prompt may come up that advises drivers to perform a quick exercise, such as taking few deep breaths, while more serious situations advises drivers to talk it out with a trusted friend using their car’s hand-free mobile systems. However, in the most serious situations, the car will automatically dial a trained mental health adviser to guide drivers through their issues.

The patent also mentions that the system can also utilize a car’s advanced driver assist systems (ADAS) to remove the driver from control of the car. According to the patent filing, if a driver is experiencing an “undesirable mindfulness level,” the car’s driver assists are equipped to “provide a level of autonomous vehicle control […] such that a driver of the vehicle need not be actively involved in controlling one or more driving or other functions of the vehicle.”

The over-connected car:

Though the “Vehicle Occupant Mental Wellbeing Assessment and Countermeasure Deployment” technology currently remains as a patent, it opens up a previously opened can of worms that had the attention of politicians in Washington: connected car data.

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Although the patented technology uses the data it collects from its various sensors and telemetry for functions inside the car, what such data can be used outside the car in today’s connected car reality can be a wildly different story. 

As per a report by The New York Times, GM and a slew of other automakers like Ford and Kia have been found to sell data on driving habits with data brokers such as LexisNexis and Verisk, who can then sell that data to insurance companies that would be more than glad to raise your rates when they find out you suffer from road rage. 

Additionally, a September 2023 report from the Mozilla Foundation’s Privacy Not Included series revealed that the set of manufacturers can collect way more information than just driving habits, such as facial geometric features, behavioral characteristics, biological characteristics, sex life or sexual orientation information, sexual activity, genetic data, religion or creed and philosophical beliefs. 

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As part of an investigation triggered by Mozilla’s findings, the office of Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) sent letters in December 2023 to 14 automakers  including General Motors, urging to implement and enforce stronger privacy protections in their vehicles, as well as asking question in regards to their data practices. 

In a letter responding to Markey’s office, GM Global Public Policy VP Omar A. Vargas admitted that “if a customer opts in to Connected services [GM’s term for its suite of safety and security services], then yes, GM collects vehicle data.”

In response to a question asking if the automaker “sell[s], transfer[s], share[s], or otherwise derive[s] commercial benefit” from data collected to third parties, Vargas said that owners who opt into Connected Services basically allow the automaker to “share data collected from Vehicles with third parties,” including emergency responders to help “respond more quickly and accurately,” as well as to “support in-vehicle services utilized by the owner, and where the owner directs GM to do so (such as helping owners optimize their charging patterns).” 

Additionally, Vargas said that in regards to “limited data shares where there is a commercial benefit attributable directly to the data sharing,” the benefit to GM’s bottom line in 2022 was “de minimis,” or “lacking significance or importance,” as per  Merriam-Webster — which can mean anything to a multinational automaker that reported $12.4 billion in EBIT-adjusted income during its 2023 full-year results on Jan. 30 this year.

In a statement to TheStreet, a General Motors representative said they “don’t comment on future technologies.” 

General Motors, trading under  (GM)  on the New York Stock Exchange traded at $43.97, down 2.1% at market close

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