First there were the speed cameras, then the insurance black boxes and now we actualy have cars that rat you out to the police. While I am largely a fan of technology I am not so sure these are good ideas. For one the most obvious thing this technology is capable of detecting is speeding. While I think speed limits area good thing I do not think 100% enforcement is a very reasonable expectation consdiering the limitations of the current system. They are static numbers with little regard for vehicle/driver capabilities or conditions. If you wanted to make this system smart enough to create a dynamic speed limit environment which takes more into consideration than the one number per stretch system I would be more interested in seeing this technology more widely used.
How could this work ? IF ALL cars are mandated to have it then you can have a system monitor traffic levels and adjust speed limits accordingly, IE if your the only driver for miles in a Ferrari the system sets it accordingly, if it is raining/snowing then limits lower according to deteriorating traction conditions. Higher levels of traffic density lead to lower limits. GPS systems and active scanning for automatic cruise controls can be used to maintain safe braking distances and to warn drivers of dangerously low distances. Then you would have a system far more capable of weeding out truly dangerous exceptions both above and below the speed limit.
Another possibility I would like to see is a driver cell phone interlock which disables the phone of the driver while the transmission is engaged. This actually could be accomplished with a bluetooth interface informing the phone that the key is in use... perhaps allowing the phone to make or receive a call only if a hands free setup is detected.
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