The UK’s move to a pay-per-mile tax for electric vehicles from April 2028 could be far more than simply collecting road fees ... it’s a potential gateway to the relentless surveillance we're currently enduring.
Cars today come packed with black boxes, cameras, GPS, and sensors that log every stop, every speed, every inch traveled. The tech needed to track miles could easily be a Trojan horse for monitoring your driving behavior in creepy detail.
While the government says it’s about fairness everyone pays for road upkeep, regardless of fuel source the data trail this leaves behind could be hooked into digital IDs, social credit systems, or behavioral scores tied to carbon footprints or driving style. Today’s carbon guilt tax could morph into tomorrow’s driving compliance check, with fines pinged automatically for running late, speeding, or even harsh braking.
There’s no ticket-issuing software baked into cars yet, but the hardware is already there. And the government’s growing appetite for digital oversight means your car could soon be another node in a national monitoring network complete with instant violation alerts and automated billings. HALO systems, drones, smart traffic cams, driver scorecards, the whole dystopian arsenal is within reach.
What started as a green push risks turning into a digital gulag, where your freedom behind the wheel is chipped away mile by mile. This pay-per-mile tax may not be about money but about control.
The road ahead looks less like an open highway and more like 1984.