Cyberattack on vehicle breathalyzer company leaves drivers stranded in the US

NHTSA was directed to write some guidelines/rules around the implementation of passive impairment detection as OEM features. They have yet to do so, probably because it is flaky technology.

My guess is that the final rule implementation will be similar to the distracted driver detection that is already in many new vehicles.

All this seems to be is a company collecting corporate welfare while doing the bare minimum. Such companies should both be sanctioned and have their leadership investigated for potential fraud.

If you receive public dollars to function, the public should expect some modicum of sensibility and accountability.

I'm not sure if this is preventable.

Is an email the best way to report these?

these are slowly but surely pushing manufacturers/sellers/distributors to try to do the right things

it requires transparency about support period commitment, a bug tracker program, issuing updates (I guess in case there's a CVE), doing risk assessment during development, etc., and requirements kick in based on turnover (or headcount).

and it seems like the correct approach, these are already things good products come with

We already know what the failures are. We already know what the solutions are. We know it because people have been born and died in the span of time we have been dealing with these same problems. There is no need to assemble guidelines (that no company would follow anyway without being forced to).

> Software engineers can't even agree on best practices as is.

I'm not talking about "best practice"; I'm talking about, before you ship a build to customers, you must at least run it once to look for errors. This is kid stuff, yet the companies don't do it, and subsequently half the flights in the USA are delayed for weeks. There is no need to argue about this, there is no question that there are basic practices that should be considered malpractice not to do. We must make this law or they will continue to disregard these basic practices and we will continue to suffer for it.

> Software has a tendency to evolve and need maintenance or add features after

That is a flaw in business practice, it has nothing to do with software itself. I can run a suite of Perl programs today that I wrote 20 years ago, and they run flawlessly. No need for maintenance, it just works. The reason is, we just happened to treat this one language as something that should not break, and should last a long time. No reason we couldn't treat other software the same way. The fact that other software doesn't is a choice by a lazy industry and uncaring business models, and this choice needs to be challenged, the way every industry has had to be challenged by codes (the reason codes exist is industry cannot be trusted to "do the right thing", they need to be forced).

But despite this, codes change all the time. The electrical code changes as solar progresses. Building codes change as we learn new things or new materials are introduced. The codes do change slowly, precisely so the work is well thought-out, coordinated, and safe, which nobody can say about modern software. The time for move fast and break things needs to end.

If the people of the country were more constitution minded, they would want a punishment that fits the crime, and no additional punishment on top of it. So I share this gripe, even though I consider DUI a very serious crime (including those who do it and don't get caught).

Oh sure there are plenty of people who are guilty and have a problem, they get caught too, but the courts want money so they aren't just going after the problem, they are charging any and every person possible. Some people get charged DUIs for annoying a cop or being tired, and even if their blood work comes up clean, do they drop the case? No. They just argue they were high on some other drug that they didn't test for.

> your criticism is pretty off-base

In my experience, and the experience of my friends, that criticism was spot-fucking-on. Once you get into the system, you'll be lucky to ever truly get out. Every step is designed to keep you paying into the system in perpetuity unless you walk a very, very thin tightrope. Anyone that thinks we rehab our criminals is pretty off-base.

Except they are allowed to use a vehicle. This issue isn't that they aren't allowed to use their vehicles. The danger is the disruption in what they are allowed to do and software/hardware failing. This is dangerous not only for them, but others as well.

And to be clear, this is specifically about people who are allowed to drive with a breathalyzer. So, "aren't allowed to use a vehicle" makes no sense. They are allowed to drive with certain conditions. Just like you and me.

An interlock prevents you from driving drunk. Suspending a license pretty frequently does nothing.

In the latter case, the man is going to Western State Secure Psychiatric Hospital. As a former paramedic, that facility is entirely jail-like, sally ports for access, razor wire, armed security, and very barebones. And he will likely be there for the rest of his life.

So you're angry that someone found to be mentally ill is getting treatment while potentially spending life in prison?

That first case? There's something missing there, there's zero reason explained as to why the Judge overturned the conviction. Like it's a gaping black hole in that article. "Judge overturned the conviction, defendant's lawyers say "it was a good decision"." The vibe I get there is almost one more of corruption...

This is exactly what the parent meant by designing the country in a 'car-brained' fashion. It's not true in many/most other countries.

As a Brazilian, that statement feels bizarre. Yeah, my job and my home are not in walking distance of each other. I simply take the bus. Sure, some jobs are not within reach of the bus (or the ferry, or the metro, or the light tram, etc), and some jobs need a car (for instance, it would be hard for a HVAC technician to take all their equipment on a bus), but saying it's "almost impossible" to find a job?

> demanding there be things like grocery shopping as well make it not feasible for most people.

That also sounds bizarre to my ears. Most places I've known have small grocery shopping places on nearly every corner. You just have to walk.

This seemed implausible, so I ran the numbers for my situation at the time that involved car costs and a commute distance that were both below median for my city, plus well above-median household income.

Sure enough! It worked out just the way they claimed, if only barely. For the median worker in my city though, it was very true.

“Have a pint, stay a spell. It’ll be our cozy little secret, mate.”

Most people don't do that, but the option is there for anyone looking to make their life and the lives of people around them significantly worse.

That's not to say that anyone should drive after drinking, but the basic reality is that impairment is often individual, and cannot be directly measured by blood alcohol content. Many people are impaired with a lower BAC than 0.08, and in many states you can now be charged and convicted of DUI even if your BAC is not beyond the legal threshold on the basis of purely circumstantial evidence.

There's no good answer here, because we need cut and dried evidence in our legal system to prevent abuses, but there's not really good ways to do that. Separately, the leading cause of accidents is no longer drunk driving in most parts of the West, it's inattentive driving due to cellphone/electronics usage while operating a vehicle. Younger generations don't drink as much as older generations, to the point that zero-percent alcohol spirits and NA beer are now becoming broad markets and it's dramatically affecting bar/pub culture, but younger generations nearly as a rule are addicted to their smartphones.