Every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera • Hacker News Board

Re: Every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera

#51

Post by frollogaston » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:09 PM UTC

CGMthrowaway wrote: post #32

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #6

All new cars. At this point I don't know if I'd buy anything made after 2008. Whenever I rent a new car around here (in the EU) I find them very annoying. The worst is the cruise control that tries to stick to the speed limit -- but its sensors don't always read the signs very well, so you'll often slow to 50 km/h (about 30 mph) for no reason. Then there's the incessant beeping at you, "lane assist" that you can't tu…

Don't rule out another Cash for Clunkers. The 2009 program destroyed 1 in 300 cars on the road. The next one could be bigger. Also, 3 in 4 cars on the road today are now in states requiring emissions tests for your annual registration, which can pose a significant (and growing, as standards improve) obstacle for older cars.

The article is about the EU, but since you brought up US emissions testing... I live in California, only drive mid 2000s cars, and haven't noticed any of the restrictions getting tighter. It's the usual check every 2 years at the same place. Seems my cars are grandfathered into old emissions standards too.

And yeah I enjoy having my car shut the hell up and let me drive.

Re: Every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera

#52

Post by throw0101d » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC

I have a manual 2003 Golf TDI (purchased in 2003; has a tape deck!) that's slowly rusting, and I'm not looking forward to when I have to replace it.

I don't have a garage/drive way, and so have to park on the street, which makes me leans towards another short [1] vehicle: currently thinking about VW Golf, Mazda 3, Mazda CX-30, Kia Niro.

From what I've seen from almost all cars, lots more screens and lots fewer buttons.

[1] https://www.carsized.com/en/

Re: Every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera

#53

Post by izacus » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC

nickslaughter02 wrote: post #5

The EU is quickly becoming the surveillance capital of the world.

Do you... not understand what the ADAS system does and how it works?

You have a camera aimed at your face when typing this nonsense post.

Re: Every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera

#54

Post by INTPenis » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

As a pedestrian I love this.

I actually suggested a solution like this 2 years ago, because so many drivers are bad at signaling. I wanted a camera that used machine learning to learn a driver's cues when they're making a turn, and eventually it would be able to activate the signals for the driver.

I'm sick and tired of standing on the side of the road with my dog and waiting for a car just for it to make a turn. FOAD

I am rarely in a rush, if a car signals I will allow it to turn, I will stand back and wait, no problem. But 80% of them are really bad at this.

Re: Every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera

#55

Post by A_D_E_P_T » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

driverdan wrote: post #22

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #6

All new cars. At this point I don't know if I'd buy anything made after 2008. Whenever I rent a new car around here (in the EU) I find them very annoying. The worst is the cruise control that tries to stick to the speed limit -- but its sensors don't always read the signs very well, so you'll often slow to 50 km/h (about 30 mph) for no reason. Then there's the incessant beeping at you, "lane assist" that you can't tu…

The intrusiveness of these systems varies significantly between manufacturers. Don't buy one with an annoying, intrusive system.

Most of the rentals around my neck of the woods are VWs or entry-level Mercedes. The two seem approximately equally bad; they both have the exact same problems with cruise control, lane assist beeps, speed limit beeps, "take a break!" beeps, and so on.

I've heard that Dacia has some models that are like 2008 throwbacks, with "modern" annoyances kept to a bare minimum, but they're considered too low-market for the rental companies, I suppose. I'd consider that sort of thing if I were looking to buy a new car, money no object.

But really a well-maintained vehicle that's ~15-20 years old suits me just fine.

Re: Every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera

#56

Post by trinix912 » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

epolanski wrote: post #38

drnick1 wrote: post #26

1) Unplug the cellular modem. 2) Unplug the camera or put a piece of blackout tape over the lens. 3) Enjoy!

Both are illegal.

Not really, it will still be fully road legal, at least in my EU member state.

Re: Every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera

#57

Post by zedascouves » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

drdebug wrote: post #24

Any one knows what happens when duck tape is being used to cover the camera?

You can deactivate it, but has to be on every car start. It's so annoying having to tur off all that crap every single trip.

Sometimes i forget the lane assist ON and get nudged randomly at high speeds, so so scary.

Re: Every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera

#58

Post by amelius » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

Smart cars are the new Smart TVs

Re: Every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera

#59

Post by peterlk » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

A_D_E_P_T wrote: post #6

All new cars. At this point I don't know if I'd buy anything made after 2008. Whenever I rent a new car around here (in the EU) I find them very annoying. The worst is the cruise control that tries to stick to the speed limit -- but its sensors don't always read the signs very well, so you'll often slow to 50 km/h (about 30 mph) for no reason. Then there's the incessant beeping at you, "lane assist" that you can't tu…

Over Christmas, I spent several minutes trying to debug my beeping dashboard - it only seemed to happen sometimes while driving, so stopping didn’t let me figure it out. Eventually I discovered that it was beeping at me because my eyes weren’t on the road enough. Of course, figuring that out required me to take my eyes off the road to figure out which blinking signal was associated with this particular alarm.

Also, being constantly warned that I was speeding in rural areas where the car missed a speed limit sign caused me to start ignoring the speeding alarm within a few hours of driving the car.

I feel like there’s some lesson here in building to the lowest common denominator, and giving people products rather than tools (tools are more dangerous, but more useful), but maybe I’m just grumpy.

Re: Every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera

#60

Post by ErroneousBosh » Tue, Jul 07, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

awakeasleep wrote: post #9

Ford has had that since Blue Cruise 2.0, or thereabouts. It really shocked me how often it catches my attention being diverted. Things like talking to my passengers, adjusting the climate controls, or eating- I'm not even talking about 'advanced distractions' like my phone. It also seemed really accurate. I never remember it beeping at me when I was actually paying attention. It's totally plausible to me that this ki…

The Kia Niro EVs I drive at work have something that apparently detects driver fatigue. I don't know what sets it off but it starts beeping at fire alarm levels and makes the huge LCD constantly flash up warnings, usually before I've even left the yard. There doesn't appear to be a way to turn it off or stop it, so you just have to put up with a constant "BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING BING" for the whole journey.