A Tory MP has warned that data logs from autonomous, or ‘driverless’, cars could be used by ‘ambitious’ divorce lawyers to prove adultery.
In the House of Commons former minister Sir Greg Knight asked the Minister of State for Transport John Hayes whether he had had any further thoughts on the data log of automated vehicles, how long such information ought to be kept for and who should have access to it. He went on:
“Quite clearly, we are all expecting that insurance companies would have the right to access the data log, and also the police, because even if there’s been no accident, the vehicle might have been involved in a crime.
“But will others be able to seek access to this data log, such as, for example, an employer trying to see what the employee has been up to during the day.
“Or perhaps an ambitious divorce lawyer, seeking to prove adultery has taken place and trying to find out where the occupant of the automated vehicle went during the afternoon.”
The Minister, whilst not wishing to enter into “salacious matters”, accepted that the issue of access to the data needed to be looked at closely.
A similar concern was raised in America a few years back relating to data collected by an electronic road toll collection system.
But could such data really be used to prove adultery? The simple answer is “no”. As we have explained previously, ‘adultery’ means voluntary sexual intercourse between a man and a woman who are not married to one another but where at least one of them is a married person. The mere fact that a married person may have spent time with an unmarried person does not prove that they committed adultery. However, it may well indicate that the married person was having a relationship with someone else, which could amount to unreasonable behaviour, although in such cases the party issuing the divorce is likely to have other evidence of unreasonable behaviour, such that they will not need to prove where their spouse went on any given afternoon.
In short, Family Law Cafe does not envisage driverless car data logs being routinely used by divorce lawyers, ambitious or otherwise, to prove adultery.
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Image of driverless car by Automobile Italia, licensed under CC BY 2.0.