> like the driving equivalent of a "thought police" society from 1984 -- but automated.

Except in this case it's reporting a crime that you have actually already done - you broke a traffic law. It might not be an extremely serious crime most of the time, but it's absolutely not the same as punishment for thinking about breaking the law.

Depends if it's recording general indiscretions or driving indiscretions. Once all/most driving is automated, I don't think we'll have many driving indiscretions, and you could potentially put them back on the manufacturer in some cases rather than the occupant.

Especially so when the majority of people do not own the car in which they're travelling but are hiring it for the journey like they do a taxi or plane.

   > automatic highway surveillance 

As someone who has lived in the dystopia that is the UK, who've been doing this for ages, it's not so bad.