AUTOMATED CARS THREATEN

MUNICIPAL REVENUE

AND ARREST RATES

Recent reports suggest that by the year 2020 the majority of new cars sold will have some type of automation. Currently, Tesla sells a car that can autopilot itself on the highway, keep a safe distance between other vehicles and maintain speed. The 2016 Honda Accord has lane assist built into its standard model, which keeps a car traveling on the highway in its lane minimizing swerving. In addition, to the Tesla and the Honda, other manufacturers, such as Volvo, Toyota, BMW, and Mercedes are already experimenting with automated vehicles.

The United States Supreme Court, has determined that before a police officer can stop a car, the officer must have "reasonable suspicion" that the driver of a vehicle committed a traffic infraction. The legal standard for the police to pull over a vehicle is a very low standard, and is generally satisfied through the police officer's observation that he witnessed a traffic infraction (speeding, swerving, improper lane change).

According to police statistics compiled over a series of years by the National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration approximately 30-40% of all traffic stops result in an arrest.¹

Traffic stops routinely stop drunk drivers, criminals engaged in criminal activity and individuals wanted on warrants.

Stopping cars for traffic infractions serves two primary purposes, it provides a stream of revenue to municipalities that comes from individuals who commit routine traffic infractions, and it provides a means for the police to stop criminals from occupying the streets.

Under our current law, the police have no right to stop a vehicle unless they have "reasonable suspicion," but a car that does not swerve, speed or change lanes improperly does not give rise to that suspicion and presumably the police have no right to stop such a vehicle.

Given the advent of automated vehicles, what excuse will the police use to stop a perfectly driving car? The technology is too new and it will be interesting to see how the judicial system and our legislatures deal with the issue.

My instinct tells me that as automation goes up the statistics for drunk driving arrests and criminal arrests will go down. As arrests and traffic infractions go down, so too will the revenue stream for many municipalities, which is when you will see the backlash to automation.