TL;DR
From 7 July 2026, the second phase of the EU’s General Safety Regulation makes advanced driver aids mandatory on all newly manufactured cars and vans, including pedestrian- and cyclist-detecting emergency braking and a camera-based driver distraction warning. It builds on the 2024 first phase (which brought in intelligent speed assistance) and supports the EU’s Vision Zero goal of near-zero road deaths by 2050. The cabin-facing camera is the most contentious element, welcomed by safety researchers but eyed warily by privacy advocates.
A new wave of mandatory safety technology took effect for cars and vans across the EU on 7 July. Every newly manufactured passenger car and van must now carry advanced driver aids, the European Commission has confirmed.
The headline additions are an advanced emergency brake that detects pedestrians and cyclists, and a driver distraction warning system. The rules also require better forward vision, new tests for worn tyres, and a larger area of safety glass to protect people on foot.
This is the second phase of the General Safety Regulation, the 2019 law that has steadily made once-premium features standard. The first phase, mandatory since 2024, already brought in systems such as intelligent speed assistance.
Brussels rolled the rules out in stages because the newer features are technically demanding. Carmakers were given extra time to develop reliable pedestrian and cyclist detection, and cabin-facing monitoring.
The goal is the EU’s Vision Zero, an ambition to bring road deaths as close to zero as possible by 2050. Distraction and vulnerable road users are the specific targets, and the bloc wants to accelerate adoption of driver-assistance tech across the fleet.
The camera in the cabin
The most contentious piece is the driver distraction warning, which relies on a camera pointed at the driver’s face. It tracks gaze and head position, and alerts the driver if their attention drifts from the road for too long.
Safety researchers see clear value, since inattention is a major cause of crashes and a real-time nudge can prevent them. Privacy advocates are warier of always-on cabin cameras, even when the systems are designed to work in the moment rather than record.
That tension is not unique to distraction alerts. Europe has led on mandating in-car safety tech, and its speed-limiter push has outpaced efforts elsewhere, though the EU version nudges rather than forcibly slows.
From driver aids to automated driving
The mandate blurs a familiar line, and it helps to separate driver assistance from full automation. These systems assist a human who stays in control, rather than replacing them.
The same regulation, though, also lays the legal groundwork for automated driving in Europe. That framework is being tested as the Netherlands became the first EU country to approve Tesla’s supervised Full Self-Driving, amid ongoing regulator scrutiny.
Underneath it all is a shift in how cars are built, toward the software-defined vehicle stuffed with sensors and compute. Mandating advanced safety tech pulls the whole industry further down that road.
For buyers, the upshot is simple, if not free: new cars get safer and a little more watchful, and somewhat pricier to build. Whether the driver-facing camera feels like protection or surveillance may depend on who is behind the wheel.
