Driverless cars could report drunk occupants to the police

Autonomous cars may be able to report drunk occupants to the police, should a new technology come to light.

A system being developed by smartphone giant Huawei can monitor the condition of whoever is behind the wheel of the car — ensuring they’re capable of being control of the vehicle should manual control be required.

According to a patent filed to the European Patent Office, the car will then be able to decide on what action to take — be that locking out controls, warning the occupants or even going as far as to report them to the police. Along with drunk drivers, the system would be able to detect those distracted, tired or even overcome with road rage.

It’s said the unnamed system from the Chinese firm would utilise machine learning to create a picture of the occupant’s condition and intentions when they hop in the car. If it is unsure of the driver’s state, the car may ask questions to help it in its decision making.

There’s no word yet on when, or even if, the system will ever make it into production or how Huawei would deploy it — although it’s possible the technology could be licenced to car manufacturers rather than the firm developing its own vehicle.

Driverless cars are currently not mandated for public use on UK roads, but trials are being conducted across the country with a view to autonomous shuttle services starting in London from 2021.