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Technology can put big brother in your vehicle

By Joe Sharkey
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, NEW YORK
Thursday, Jul 12, 2001, Page 19

About eight months ago, you might have seen some ranting and raving in this space over the increasing use of hidden cameras on streets and highways to nab unsuspecting speeders.

The problem then was that some rental-car customers, typically business travelers, were unexpectedly opening the mail at home one day to find a court summons for speeding issued by some barely recalled destination that had been driven through on a recent business trip.

Scores of municipalities nationally have begun using the technique, in which a camera with a radar device records a car's license number and speed. Then a summons is mailed out automatically. Last week, for example, Washington, DC said it would begin using these radar cameras to nab speeders.

Reacting to the trend, consumer groups and auto clubs have expressed concern about the extent to which this ploy might be used by greedy municipalities not as safety measures but as inexpensive, high-technology speed traps to boost local revenues.

Of course, official police cameras are one thing. But then, into the always dependable category of fresh abominations, came news last month that a small car rental company in New Haven, Connecticut, is using satellite technology to monitor its vehicles on the road and to automatically impose US$150 fines on customers who speed. The company pockets the fines.

The company, which has the amusingly generic name of Acme Rent a Car, admitted that it uses satellite-based global positioning system devices on its vehicles to identify speeders who exceed 127 miles an hour.

After 26 customers complained, the Connecticut Consumer Protection Department accused the company of violating state consumer laws. Acme said that its policy was legal, and was clearly spelled out in its customer rental agreement. A hearing has been scheduled for next month.

With its Orwellian trappings, the story has been getting copious national play. Still, though Acme is a tiny company, satellite-based global positioning system devices are now installed on tens of thousands of rental cars, which raises a question: Do business travelers have to worry about their rental cars ratting them out if they edge a little past the speed limit?

The car rental industry, though it certainly does not encourage customers to speed, would like everybody to just relax.

"We do not use GPS systems to track speeders or to track our customers in any manner," said Paula Stifter, the manager of public affairs for Hertz Corp, which features a GPS system called NeverLost in some of its cars.

"NeverLost can only receive information from the satellite," Stifter said. "Neverlost does not have the technological capabilities to transmit information, so it's physically impossible for us to track customers." And Hertz, a unit of Ford Motor Co, has no interest in ever doing so, she stressed.

Ted Deutsch, the vice president for public affairs at Avis Rent a Car System Inc, a unit of Cendant Corp that uses a GPS system called OnStar in some models, had the same message. OnStar is made by General Motors.

"Avis doesn't nor do we have any intention to use the OnStar system to monitor the behavior of Avis customers, including the rate of speed that they drive cars," he said. "Obviously, we encourage our customers to obey the law, but we have no intention of invading their privacy."

Budget Rent a Car, a subsidiary of Budget Group Inc, doesn't have GPS mapping systems in its cars, although it is testing some products for possible use. It does, however, install a certain kind of GPS device in some of its fleet.

"We use a GPS for a very specific purpose -- for vehicle recovery related to theft," said Kimberly Mulcahy, the company's vice president for corporate communications. "We use it on only on select vehicles that have a high theft ratio," she added. "It's not intrusive at all for our customers. It's for the sole purpose of getting our vehicles back" if they are stolen.

At Alamo Rent a Car and National Car Rental, meanwhile, some vehicles are equipped with OnStar systems, which allow customers to activate the device on the road and receive road directions by cell phone.

"The only purposes we use them for are customer safety and convenience," said Cheryl Budd, the senior vice president for corporate communications at the ANC Rental Corp, the parent company of both Alamo and National. "Ninety percent of the usage is for directions, for location, where a customer can say, `I'm lost!'" The GPS provider, not the car rental companies, handle these communications, she said.

In a way, she said, it's not unlike having a spouse in the car with a road map helping you with directions. "Except they don't yell," Budd said.
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