- Domestic abuse survivors can submit a restraining order to terminate another driver’s remote access.
- The bill mandates that carmakers simplify the process of disabling a vehicle’s location access.
- Similar regulations may soon be implemented in other states across the USA.
Victims of domestic abuse will no longer have to worry about being tracked or stalked in their vehicles thanks to a new bill signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom earlier this week.
Modern vehicles are more connected than ever before and many can be tracked and/or have vital systems controlled by registered users on smartphone applications. This has led to a spike in abuse. In one case reported by The Los Angeles Post, the husband of a domestic abuse survivor started terrorizing her while she was driving the family’s Tesla Model X, locking and unlocking the doors, turning the heater on, or honking the horn. He was even able to switch off the car’s ability to charge, all through the Tesla app, despite the woman having a restraining order against him.
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The new bill signed by Newsom passed the California state legislature with strong support and will require car manufacturers to set up a clear process where drivers can submit a copy of a restraining order, or other documentation, and request termination of another driver’s remote access to a vehicle within two business days. The bill also requires drivers to be able to easily turn off location access from inside a vehicle.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents automakers and suppliers of 98% of new car and light truck sales in the US, said it supports the bill and has applauded the commission’s work to “address the potential and unacceptable abuse of connected vehicle services to harm domestic violence survivors.”
“The Consumer Federation of California (CFC) thanks Governor Newsom for signing this first in the nation bill to protect domestic violence (DV) survivors from being tracked and harmed in their vehicles,” executive director of the Consumer Federation of California, Robert Herrell said.
“This new law will also spur pro-privacy technological advancements in the automotive industry. DV survivors need maximum protection from their abusive partners to be safe in their cars. CFC thanks Senator Min and Assemblymember Weber for their leadership on this important issue and stands with our co-sponsors from the legal and DV communities.”
