Overview
- This month the European Union made Advanced Driver Distraction Warning systems mandatory in all newly registered passenger cars to detect and warn drivers who look away from the road for defined times.
- The regulation requires systems to auto‑activate above 20 km/h and to warn after set gaze‑away thresholds (six seconds at 20–50 km/h and 3.5 seconds at 50 km/h or more) using visual then acoustic or haptic alerts.
- Manufacturers are mainly using inward‑facing infrared cameras that process images in real time on a vehicle control unit so an internet connection is not needed and raw images are deleted after use.
- The law expressly forbids biometric identification, permanent video storage and transmission of interior images to manufacturers, insurers or authorities and allows disabling of warnings with automatic reactivation at each restart.
- Regulators and experts say the systems change drivers’ glance behavior but stop short of proven crash reductions, while data‑protection authorities and the KBA are positioned to enforce safeguards as costs and usability complaints persist.