Firstly, I've seen people who have DWI get a special license to drive to work and to get groceries. We simply do not have the public transit infrastructure. Come back with this when we have decent coverage of public transit.
Secondly, we don't have universal health care. You could end up with thousands in just ambulance expenses if you are out of network. If I am not imminently dying (how can I judge that?), we are driving ourselves.
Thirdly, this likely makes cars more expensive. See first point. We can't do that without decent public transit coverage.
Yes, we have a lot of people die on the roads in the US. No, the solution isn't as easy as adding a kill switch.
Do they get a licence to drive while intoxicated? Or people with a history of driving while intoxicated are bared from general driving, but get a special licence so they can drive but only to work and to get groceries?
Drunk driving penalties in almost all states include a minimum six-month license suspension. However, if that were universal it would completely destroy lives and have massive downstream effects. The Occupational License is an (on paper) license solely limited to driving between specifically classified types of places - work, church, healthcare, basic shopping, school, some stuff for your children, etc. Not only is it not a license to drive drunk, many of them have the added condition that the vehicle needs an "ignition interlock" device (paid for by the driver) that requires a breath sample before the car will move. Many of them also have functionality where you need to periodically blow into it while driving before the device shuts the engine down.
Of course enforcement here is an issue. Many people drive with completely suspended/revoked licenses, no insurance, etc and get away with it everyday. However, many police departments deploy either stationary ALPRs (automatic license plate readers) or have them installed on police vehicles. They're creepy but amazing - I was on a "ride along" with the police once and we'd be driving down the road at 45 mph. It would sound an alarm and have a synthesized voice that says something like "Florida license XYZ - suspended". The cop would just turn the car around and pull the person over.
And this would stop them from driving drunk. How is that bad? Or are you suggesting they should be able to drive drunk as it's the only way they can get to work?
Unexpected road debris? A car flipping in front of them?
I can understand the others on your list as they are things that can follow you, but I'm having a hard time seeing how unexpected road debris or a car flipping in front of me would be problems. I might have to drive erratically for a moment to evade them, but then even if the system decided I was impaired and made the car stop I'd be past the danger.
No, it could not. These rare edge cases have nothing on the number of lives taken by reckless drivers.
Just because something is hard to measure, doesn't mean it's not significant.
No estimates for the "lives saved while driving pregnant wife to hospital drunk and speeding" will ever get close to those numbers.
This algorithm is going to have speed,acceleration, traction, steering vs direction as some of the inputs. A good rainstorm or snowstorm is going to tough to differentiate from drunk or high driving. Those aren't edge cases. And how long then will the car decide you need a time out? 5 mins? 1 hiur? 4 hours? There is no way this doesn't get pushed back from a 2026 implementation anyway. You can't just drop this in when those model year cars are almost fully designed by now
Also it's perfectly possible to drive safely in severe weather. You shouldn't be swerving or driving erratically in bad weather either. If sight is limited, you're supposed to use hazard lights or (if it's due to severe fog) fog lights to alert other traffic to your presence and drive very carefully and slowly. If the road is extremely slippery you should use season-appropriate tires or snow chains if appropriate and otherwise drive carefully and slowly.
Those are very different patterns of behavior from the dangerous and reckless driving the law is clearly concerning. The pot head carefully going 20 because it feels like going 60 is clearly not the target for this. The drunk swerving into oncoming traffic because the alcohol is elevating their confidence while tanking their reaction time and fine motor skills very much is.