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

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

#701
post #494

I found this useful: https://seeingmachines.com/understanding-advanced-driver-dis... From that article: "Like DDAW systems, ADDW systems must function without the use of biometric information, including facial recognition, of any vehicle occupants. It must also operate within a closed-loop system, only recording and retaining data on the device that is necessary for the system to function."

but also: "ADDW systems use cameras and sensors to track a driver’s head position, eye movements, and gaze direction" and "only recording and retaining data on the device that is necessary for the system to function" Not sure why such stuff would need to be retained to function. Also if they need to track head position and gaze direction those definitely have to be higher resolution camera and/or pointing directly at…

> Not sure why such stuff would need to be retained to function

It's quite difficult to know what happened in the previous frame without any kind of retention.

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

#702

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…

A camera pointed at people’s face is going to have some insanely positive effects targeting one of the absolute biggest problems on the road though. On my daily commute about 50% of drivers are on their phones at 90 km/h, would be great if their cars were beeping at them since no one else is going to do anything about it. I find this especially great since one of them rear ended me earlier this year and practically a…

if all that happens is the car beeping at them then i would imagine that number will stay at 50%

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

#703
I rented a car that had this feature and instantly hated it. I forget the make, but if it detected you were not looking at the road for a period of time, it would slam on the brakes and release. A way to jolt you awake.

The problem was it routinely misclassified where I was looking, so I would get random brake slams which would panic me more.

I returned it after a day and asked for a new car.

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

#704

I rented a car that had this feature and instantly hated it. I forget the make, but if it detected you were not looking at the road for a period of time, it would slam on the brakes and release. A way to jolt you awake. The problem was it routinely misclassified where I was looking, so I would get random brake slams which would panic me more. I returned it after a day and asked for a new car.

What the hell. I had my last rental just beep at me, and was astonished. But this... sounds literally unsafe.

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

#705

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did a quick research and saw that in 2024 there were around 12k deaths in which one or more drunk drivers were involved. Doesn’t seem like much for a country with around 350 million people. In comparison, drug causes 7x those deaths. Cancer and heart diseases even more.

Every car safety post on HN has "guy who thinks 12k deaths is maybe not too bad." Thanks, guy! You really put things in perspective there.

I was simply suggesting that perhaps this level of overreach isn’t justified. Of course, any road death is regrettable.

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

#706
The only time our 2025 Kia warned me about being distracted was about 30 minutes into a highway drive in Europe during heavy snowfall. The roads were covered in snow, people were generally cautious but traffic was still flowing and I was checking mirrors more frequently than usually to make sure lanes around me were clear and I was aware of everything going on. I guess staring straight ahead without situational awareness is the way the car prefers. :|

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

#707

I rented a car that had this feature and instantly hated it. I forget the make, but if it detected you were not looking at the road for a period of time, it would slam on the brakes and release. A way to jolt you awake. The problem was it routinely misclassified where I was looking, so I would get random brake slams which would panic me more. I returned it after a day and asked for a new car.

[deleted]

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

#708
There's considerable cynicism in these comments and I have to suspect a puritan bent in most of them. No, no one is watching you. No, these cameras are not here to catch you doing bad things.

The purpose is very clear: reduce roadway mortality by reducing distracted driving. Frankly, I want OTHER PEOPLE to have this system in their car, while they are driving around me. Half of the cars I've driven over the past 3 or so years feature this system, and it is a good one: only occasionally invoked, and effective at observing driver attention. I'm very glad that my family members drive cars with this system.

Now to the privacy concern – yes, that is absolutely a concern. While generally my solution is to have no cameras at all, surely there are other solutions. Car makers have an incredible ability to spy on their customers, and rather than making that impossible by dumbing down the cars, I'd hope lawmakers and public advocates can devise solutions that allow both safe cars and secure data practices. This is not a case where safety in one domain needs to be traded for safety in another.

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

#709

I rented a car that had this feature and instantly hated it. I forget the make, but if it detected you were not looking at the road for a period of time, it would slam on the brakes and release. A way to jolt you awake. The problem was it routinely misclassified where I was looking, so I would get random brake slams which would panic me more. I returned it after a day and asked for a new car.

Theres already 3d models of heads you can print and attach to the rearview mirror to trick the ssensor! At least for the Teslas with Autopilot, but I can imagine it working just as well with other cars.
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