It starts with a decision. Or maybe it starts with fear. Governor JB Pritzker has to decide if Illinois will become the first state to outlaw smart glasses while driving.
The legislature already passed the bill last month. They tacked “artificial intelligence smart glasses” right into the driving laws. Right next to the rules for cell phones. Basically treated them as the same distraction.
“If signed, it would make Illinois the first state to have such a provision.”
The math on fines is simple.
* First offense? $75.
* Repeat offenders? $150 a pop.
* Causing a crash with injury or death? You’re looking at $1,000 minimum.
There are exceptions, sort of. You can use them if the car is parked. Or in neutral. Or if traffic is just stopped. But if the car moves, the rule applies.
Will Pritzker sign it? Nobody knows yet. Illinois governors have 60 days once a bill hits their desk. He gets to sit on it. Think about it. A spokesperson told CNET that Pritzker “will carefully review everything.” Vague, right? That’s the job.
His track record with tech is messy. He loves AI jobs and quantum computing. But he hates data centers. And he definitely doesn’t like biometric overreach. He’s likely to sign a different bill soon to lock down social media for kids, too. Does this glass ban fit that pattern? Probably.
Smart glasses are noisy lately. Not just Apple or Google making new gadgets. Meta is in trouble again. They were secretly testing facial recognition software in the Meta AI app. It wasn’t turned on, sure, but they had distributed the code. Wired found it. People got mad. Meta pulled it.
Now drivers might pay the price.
So the bill waits. Pritzker reviews it. Maybe he signs it. Maybe he doesn’t. The glasses keep getting better anyway. The roads stay the same.
