New devices will detect who's been drinking

In the next three to four years, all cars and trucks sold in America will be required to contain a passive safety feature that determines whether a driver is drunk and then prevents them from driving. That mandate, contained in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of late 2021, has set automakers and suppliers to work developing the technology to satisfy the regulation. Asahi Kasei, a global sensor, chemicals and medical device producer, is working on cockpit-embedded sensors that would separate the alcohol molecules from natural carbon dioxide in a driver's exhaled breath. But for all interested suppliers, there are still kinks to work out. The R&D costs represent new supplier overhead. Consumers may face vexing new insurance issues. And false breath readings could become a legal minefield.