cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/technology/p/1247241/all-cars-sold-in-the-eu-now-require-a-camera-aimed-at-your-face-its-still-not-clear-wher
cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1247209/all-cars-sold-in-the-eu-now-require-a-camera-aimed-at-your-face-its-still-not-clear-wher
Starting July 7, 2026, every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera aimed at your face. Glance at your phone, your kids in the back seat, or the radio for too long, and the car will flash a warning light and sound an alert.
Automakers have known this was coming for years. What they, and EU regulators, have never spelled out is what happens to that footage after the alert goes off.
While the intention behind the new system is difficult to dispute, its implementation has raised several concerns. Early real-world testing suggests the distraction warnings can be overly sensitive and potentially distracting.
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Fixed with a simple strip of electrical tape. Just like we do with webcams on laptops.
Until the car refuses to start because it doesn’t see the driver
Glance at your phone, your kids in the back seat, or the radio for too long, and the car will flash a warning light and sound an alert.
Or drive with your hand at the top of the wheel for too long blocking the camera’s view of you.
5-25% of car crashes come from distracted drivers huh? How about you provide good viable alternatives to driving? That’s how you best solve road deaths. More trains, trams, buses and cycling routes.
Best I can do is give you a system that you have to pay attention to to avoid it going off with false alarms
Where I live has a pretty good bike route along an old railway to the next town over and yet still loads of people opt to drive. Despite driving taking longer due to all the traffic!
I suppose quite a few people do cycle too tough. But it just seems crazy to me that so many willingly sit in that traffic every day.
The solution is certainly not to replace rails with trails.
We just need to ban cars on half the roads.
We just need to ban cars on half the roads.
So much this!
Yeah, kinda wish they replaced it with a tram line tbh. Urban sprawl between 2 towns that are now 1 continuous urban area, original train line was a few stations at each end but not much in the middle and the current route has a bus that stops all the way down it. A tram would be great for that.
I was thinking about how this technology is supposed to be forced on us in the US before long just a couple of hours ago, as I drove down a highway at twilight, with deer frequently spotted on the side of the road. It occurred to me that I would probably be flagged as not paying attention because I was regularly darting my eyes to the sides of the road very briefly for an extended period of time. Because I don’t want to kill or be killed by deer while driving.
EFF or some other privacy org should set up a shop that specializes in removing this cruft from new vehicles, to bait a legal fight with the government or car industry.
Just stick tape over the camera?
The camera is just the latest thing, there’s a lot more than just that.
So what else is there? I don’t own a car, so I’m a bit out of the loop on this.
Cars these days are run almost entirely by an onboard computer called the ECU, and most components of the car are operated by sub-electronics connected to that ECU. The ECU and sub-components are usually custom to the make and model, any sub-component not functioning as expected will often trigger the ECU to not allow the car to start. Modern cars also record all driver actions and engine data to a ‘black box’ that can be used against the driver by insurance. They also have cell network transceivers that phone home arbitrary data to the manufacturer. Everything is integrated intentionally in such a way that modifying anything has the potential to break everything.
Thanks for the writeup. I’ll guess I’ll continue to avoid owning a car.
This is the smartest move.
Thanks. I’m just hoping rail becomes better.
Good thing I’m finally car-free now! I even got a little rolly cart for my shop trips. Now if we can just get rid of all the other cams.
You got a Hackenporsche? Cool! What colour?
Blue :)
The article is right to critizice the lack of checking the systems for breaches, but the law is pretty clear on how the data can be used legally.
The law requiring the camera also requires the system to be a closed loop, and also that no personal data is processed.
Since it’s illegal to use the data for anything other than showing the warnings inside the car, it is unlikely that it would get used in case of accidents, unless the car manufacturers are willing to admit to breaking the law.
I’m sure insurance companies would also love to see how their customers drive, but I don’t think this is in the interest of the car manufacturers who potentially and illegally hold the data.
Businesses following the law and missing out on an opportunity to sell your data? Not happening.
Its probably one of the 1124 partners that have genuine interest in the cookies that you opt out of when you buy the car.
And it’s perfectly secure and transnational corporations are never above the law /s
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Design rules only apply at the time of sale. After that, the car only needs to meet roadworthy requirements.
You should technically be able to gut the ECU and install a motec or haltech unit intended for a racecar. Start it with an ignition barrel like it’s 1999.
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That’s a massive project as the ECU is likely quite custom to the vehicle and it’s electronics, while the engine likely relies on those electronics. It’s an expensive specialist job that would take iterations to complete reliably. As I suggested in another comment, perhaps an initiative for a large privacy advocacy group.
The ECU wiring and mapping is a huge chunk of the work when fitting a turbo. The R&D overhead is large, which is why kits exist for common cars.
I wonder if anyone has replaced the ECU in a modern car. All the kits are for way older cars.
Better then just replacing the ECU, make it open source
Ooh a company in Ballarat. That’s quite local for me. They have no stock though :(
Still needs to pass inspection, and it won’t if their OBD thingy says X part (eg. the camera) is broken.
North America mostly does not inspect vehicles for safety.
Is that an inspection by the dealer that sold the car, or anyone else? In the UK and I assume many other places the roadworthiness test can be done at loads of different places and there is much less that they check. Pretty sure you don’t even need a functional speedometer although they will recommend fixing it.
I don’t know if it’s still a thing these days but when I was younger some of the lad I knew claimed to reinstall the cat and mid muffler for the MOT then reinstall their “race” parts.
I also might be wrong here but I think if police claim the car is unsafe then you have book the MOT to test if it’s unsafe. Not sure where that leaves the driver though, can they drive it home first? No idea.
I guess where it becomes a serious issue if when the driver of a bypassed car is in an accident and it goes to court. The car was seized at the place of the incident so never had features re-enabled.
A little piece of black electrical tape does wonders for these systems.
Depends on how the system is enabled. It can be enabled for theft control, so blocking the camera will not allow starting.
Little peice of paper with my face printed on it taped in front of the camera with the most focused facial expression I can summon
All I know is that this technology is universally loathed in the US.
I don’t expect it to last.
You’re destined for surprise.
All I know is that this technology is universally loathed in the US.
So we’re looking to the USA for good ideas now? US universally loathed seatbelt laws.
How many people die in car crashes in the US every hour?
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<0.5
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1-2
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3-4
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Over 4
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With half the population priced out of new cars, possibly permanently, this will be fun to watch unfold
I recently accepted a new job, and it will come with a new company car.
If I’m unlucky enough to have a model that was sold after this rule goes into effect, I’m going to be taping up the camera… I don’t want a camera pointed at my face for hours, no matter how well-intentioned.
Fuck cars and all, but this will be a privacy nightmare.
As much as I’d like to see that work, the way the warning systems work (to my knowledge) is if it doesn’t detect your face for any reason, it first issues a warning, then and harsher warning, and in some cases will consider you “incapacitated” and slow the car to a halt. Mercedes had a system like that decades ago.
You can’t do that to the microphones that are recording everything you’re saying and uploading that metadata to the cloud for sale to the data brokers
This…is good! Carbrain has long argued that the issue with vehicle collision and vehicle violence against pedestrian is not due to the insane amount of car on the road or the speed of a car being driven or the size of it, but all due to driver’s inability to control themselves and get themselves distracted so often, or being impatient, so now they’re constantly being watched, everyone should be safe now. Right?
Hi Peter Thiel
Hi, give me your bank detail, and i will offload some of my money to you.
What they, and EU regulators, have never spelled out is what happens to that footage after the alert goes off.
That’s actually not true.
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a regulation that harmonizes national data privacy laws throughout the EU and enhances the protection of all EU residents with respect to their personal data. This harmonization creates new rights for individuals and a set of stronger and clearer rules for businesses. The GDPR applies to all companies handling the personal data of EU residents, including companies established outside the EU if they offer goods or services to EU residents or monitor their behaviour. The GDPR entered into force on May 25, 2018.
Updated:
Updated definition of personal data: Location data and online identifiers are now expressly included in the definition of personal data.
Comprehensive record-keeping obligation: Records are used to demonstrate compliance.
Stricter definition of consent: Specific, informed and unambiguous consent must be freely given by a statement or by clear affirmative action. Individuals can withdraw their consent at any time.
New rights for individuals: Individuals have the right to access, transfer, correct and restrict their personal data and to ask that it be destroyed.
New requirement to appoint a data protection officer: Companies processing personal data on a large scale must appoint a data protection officer.
New data breach notification requirement: Competent supervisory authorities within the EU must generally be informed within 72 hours of a personal data breach.
Diversified toolkit of mechanisms: The toolkit is provided to lawfully transfer data outside the EU; the transfer is subject to specific conditions and safeguards.
Penalties for non-compliance: Companies would be subject to fines of up to 4% of global annual turnover or €20 million, whichever is higher.
Early real-world testing suggests the distraction warnings can be overly sensitive and potentially distracting.
No clue on the data sharing regulations but your linked source does nothing to disprove the claim? The (very oddly written) article does not link out to any research and has no actual data within it other then saying truckers are 11times more likely to crash in a sim if they are tired and distracted
I’ll draw a nose and eyes on my arse cheeks then take a picture of it as I bend over and spread . Tape that picture over the camera.
Enjoy snooping a look at that, nosey cunts.
You think the people who buy your data from databrokers don’t enjoy fucking people up the ass?
They will enjoy looking at this
I would take a shit when the picture is snapped so it looks like I’m smoking a cigar!
unzips
