Investors fear driverless cars will make breathalyzers obsolete

Driverless cars are going to 🍸wreck the breathalyzer business.

That, at least, is the growing fear among private-equity investors, who have balked at an opportunity to buy LMG Holdings, the biggest breathalyzer manufacturer in the US, sources told The Post.

Cincinnati-based LMG has been cranking out healthy profits selling “interlock” devices — breathalyzers that are permanently installed on more than 70,000 car ignitions for people who have been convicted of drunken 🤡drivi♕ng.

Technology has likewise been improving in the niche, with alcohol-sensing start buttons and touch pads — advances tha🐼t have been ꦺapplauded by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Still, buyout exe🌠cutives fret that such technology will end up in the ditch once cars become capable of ferrying home their tipsy owners after they’🥂ve had one too many at the corner bar.

“No one would buy [LMG] because of the threat of driverless cars,” according to a partner at a๊ prominent private-equity firm who r🌟ecently kicked the tires at the company and passed.

“It’s a steady business now, but may not be by th𓂃e time it is time to exit,” the exec added, noting that buyout firms typically look to acquire and se♊ll businesses within five years.

Last fall, Tesla 𝓀chief executive Elon Musk pledged that one of his company’s cars will drive itself from Los Angeles to New York by the end of this year.

Buyout firm Lin🍎eage Capital amassed breathalyzer makers to create LMG, buying Cincinnati-based LifeSafer in 2010, then acquiring similar companies including Monitch and Guardian.

About six months ago, Lineage signaled it wanted to sell the c𝐆ompany, according to a source with direct knowledge of the process.

Earlier this year, private-equity firꦫm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe bought LMG rival Consumer Safety Technology for an undisclosed amount.

Lineage did not return calls.