I’ve often said that the next big technology innovation and interaction design challenge was going to involve transportation and traffic: smart cars on smart highways. I’ve also often said that we’re probably twenty five years away from that vision. Turns out I was right on the first count, but dead wrong on the second. The Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office of the US Office of Transportation has already spent $4 billion (that’s billion with a B) to make this a reality, and they are hoping to start equipping cars by 2010. This article explains the details.

And some of those details are, as you might expect from a government office that no one has ever heard of, creepy.

For 13 years, a powerful group of car manufacturers, technology companies and government interests has fought to bring this system to life. They envision a future in which massive databases will track the comings and goings of everyone who travels by car or mass transit. The only way for people to evade the national transportation tracking system they’re creating will be to travel on foot. Drive your car, and your every movement could be recorded and archived. The federal government will know the exact route you drove to work, how many times you braked along the way, the precise moment you arrived — and that every other Tuesday you opt to ride the bus.

Like I said, creepy. Under the guise of preventing accidents, more privacy will be taken away. And private data will be provided to businesses to sell you more product.

Obviously, there is a huge benefit to tracking traffic patterns and preventing accidents. Getting into a car and having it figure out your route to work, rerouting based on traffic, and speeding along very quickly and safely is going to be fantastic. But not at the expense of having our liberties (once again) removed.