As of July 7, 2026, every new passenger car and van registered in the European Union must carry an Advanced Driver Distraction Warning (ADDW) system. An infrared camera, typically mounted near the steering column or rearview mirror, tracks the driver's gaze and head position; if attention drifts from the road for more than 3.5 seconds at speeds above 50 km/h (or 6 seconds above 20 km/h), the car issues a warning.
The requirement is the second phase of the EU's General Safety Regulation, which also mandates advanced emergency braking that detects pedestrians and cyclists, improved forward visibility, tougher tire-wear testing, and expanded safety glass for pedestrian protection. Regulators cite alcohol as a factor in roughly a quarter of fatal European crashes and speeding in about 30 percent, framing the new tech as part of the bloc's "Vision Zero" push to eliminate road deaths by 2050.
To address privacy concerns, the European Commission says the system must operate without facial recognition or biometric identification, processing everything in a closed loop on the vehicle itself rather than storing or transmitting footage. The rules apply only to newly registered vehicles — cars already on the road are unaffected, but no new model can be type-approved or sold in the EU without the feature going forward.