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May 17, 2026 | Becoming Invisible, Part 19: You Only Think You Own Your Car
John Rubino
Modern vehicles had already become “rolling surveillance devices” by the beginning of this decade. But that’s just the start. Much more dystopian tech is in the pipeline. Consider the following, from a couple of recent X posts:
In new patents filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office (Serial No. 20250104469), Ford is envisioning a future where your pickup turns into a rolling police station. And we don’t mean just a bunch of new safety features; the new patents envision your truck as a 24/7 surveillance outpost.
Biometric Checks: From the comfort of your own driveway, your eyes will be scanned, and that iris and fingerprint checked against a database of criminals – real-time results received within seconds.
Did you know? Your car can put you in an Emotional Lockout! If your vehicle senses that you are in a “panic” driving state or have the “big eyes” (unintentionally locking onto an object for too long), the vehicle will determine that you are not fit to drive. The vehicle will remain in a Park state and will not allow the shifter to transition into the Drive state.
Ad Spying – using acoustic waves to read your lips and display monitored conversations to you in order to serve you targeted ads for maximum monetization.
Law Enforcement: The live feeds in the footages “by Ford” are not encrypted and thus can be used for Law Enforcement Integration. Ford’s own patent language for this feature describes the live feeds as “potentially useful for police”.
This isn’t “coming soon” – it’s already here.
Smart Eye monitoring software is already in use in over 4 million vehicles worldwide.
To comply with EU regulations such as the Future Truck 2025 concept, GSR, drowsiness system will be a mandatory feature on board.
Ford currently offers live in-cabin Ford Pro Telematics feeds to its fleet manager customers.
Surveillance society: It’s not just the new spying tech that’s the problem – it’s that all older vehicles are being gradually driven off the road and taken out of commission through legislation and a parts shortage, leaving drivers with a hollow choice.
CBDCs and Social Credit
Our driving habits are about to become part of our “social credit score,” alongside our spending of programmable money like central bank digital currencies and stablecoins. The endgame? A population that can neither travel nor transact unless the government says so.
But don’t worry, if you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear.
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John Rubino May 17th, 2026
Posted In: John Rubino Substack