Overview
- The European Union put the updated General Safety Regulation into force on July 7, 2026, making advanced driver distraction warning (ADDW) systems mandatory in every new passenger vehicle sold across the bloc.
- ADDW systems must monitor driver gaze and issue escalating visual, acoustic or haptic warnings if a driver looks into defined ‘distracted’ areas for more than six seconds at 20–50 km/h or more than 3.5 seconds above 50 km/h.
- The law requires systems to operate without identifying occupants or relying on biometric personal data and directs closed‑loop, in‑vehicle processing, but it does not set detailed audit or retention rules for the monitoring data.
- Privacy and security groups flagged risks from always‑on cabin cameras, possible insurer use and over‑the‑air software changes, and reporting shows at least one automaker has acknowledged real‑time cloud processing that would conflict with the closed‑loop guidance.
- Regulators and industry warn about technical readiness, false positives, disability misclassification and an estimated per‑car cost increase of $100–$500, and U.S. regulators are already on a path under 2021 law to consider similar requirements that could follow by 2027.