Prototype Car Shown By NHTSA Can’t Be Driven While Drunk

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in partnership with an industry consortium has revealed a prototype vehicle fitted with the latest in anti-drunk driving technology.

Called the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS), it is able to unobtrusively and quickly detect the driver’s blood alcohol level, whether you want it to or not. The system will then disable the vehicle from starting if the driver’s blood-alcohol level is found to be above the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

The system works by scanning the driver’s breath and touch. The breath system works by pulling a small amount of the driver’s breath into a port mounted on the steering wheel or the door and measuring it using infrared light. Same goes for the touch-based system, which uses infrared lighting to measure the driver’s blood-alcohol level by shining the light through the driver’s fingertip.

The revealed prototype will be used to help bring the technology to life in production cars. NHTSA says that the project aims to be fully operational in vehicle flees within the next five years.

 

 

This article originally appeared at AutoGuide.com