this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2026
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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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[–] nullspace@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

So if your teenager bangs their partner in the back seat do you sue your insurance or the automaker for recording child pornography?

[–] brownsugga@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago

Only buying pre 2018 cars from now on, I will have a Toyota collection that will run forever

[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 11 points 8 hours ago (7 children)

This is for cars where everything is being put on touchscreens so you have to take your eyes off of the road to control it?

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[–] Gammelfisch@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Time to buy a Daimler-Benz W123 240D (OM616) with 53 kW (72 hp) and a 4-spd manual. Yep, that's all I need.

[–] m8052@lemmy.world 5 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

What if you tape the camera ?

[–] poopkins@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

I'm speculating wildly, but if the regulations for road sign cameras are anything to go by, the EU will require the car to wail at you every few seconds because it thinks the speed limit on the highway is 40 km/h because it picked up a sign on the offramp you just passed.

[–] Michal@programming.dev 1 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

Then some features will likely not work

[–] silicon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 5 hours ago

Time to get to work on emulating a driver sitting in the car doing nothing to fool the computer.

[–] Rooster326@programming.dev 1 points 7 hours ago (3 children)
[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago
[–] skeezix@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Like the ignition. Apparently Meta is subsidising the storage and assessment infrastructure for clip analysis

[–] ThomasWilliams@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

This is garbage.

The camera works in real time and doesn't store anything.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 8 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

before long people are gonna want to buy nothing but used 70s and 80s carbuerated shitboxes just to avoid all this shit.

10 bucks says all this data is being fed back to insurance companies.

[–] nullspace@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

Please install this rootkit on your phone for $10 off your car insurance.

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 7 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

This was on the news today on tv and they showed a camera filming the driver, watching his upper body.

I bought a car from 2023 without all this shit so I'm very happy. Newer electric cars also beep when you go over the speed limit, which would drive me nuts.

[–] mastod0n@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

If anyone owns a current BMW and the speed limit beeping drives them nuts:

Hold the "set" button on you steering wheel for about 2s, the screen will inform you the Warnung has been temporarily turned off (until your next start)

[–] Senal@programming.dev 8 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

The mandate says nothing about cameras specifically.

I thought it did as well but it only specifies this :

Driver drowsiness and attention warning and advanced driver distraction warning systems shall be designed in such a way that those systems do not continuously record nor retain any data other than what is necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed within the closed-loop system. Furthermore, those data shall not be accessible or made available to third parties at any time and shall be immediately deleted after processing. Those systems shall also be designed to avoid overlap and shall not prompt the driver separately and concurrently or in a confusing manner where one action triggers both systems.

Don't get me wrong, manufacturers are going to have a fucking field day with all of the shit they'll try and get in under this banner of "safety" and they will almost certainly work their monetisation shenanigans in around this.

It might seem like that wording prohibits data collection, but it doesn't cover all the bases a team of well paid lawyers would be able to come up with. Or they could just do what they normally do and just ignore the "no data collection" part and pay the ~~cost of doing business tax~~ fine and rake in multiples of that fine in profits.

My point is , it doesn't specify cameras, so theoretically a company could come up with a non-face-scanning way of doing this and use that instead.

will they ?....fuck no...but they could if they wanted to.

Which is arguably worse.

edit : A note to say that I'm not arguing against the safety aspects of this , they might be fully valid, i'm arguing that it'll be abused for profit in any way the companies think will give them a positive ROI.

[–] ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk 6 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Unless it can prove that it is running entirely locally with no outside connection, it can fuck off.

[–] Rooster326@programming.dev 2 points 7 hours ago

Even then.... I still don't want it.

[–] bridgeburner@lemmy.world 3 points 10 hours ago

And politicians in germany are wondering why the car industry is collapsing. Ain't nobody can afford those european cars if there are a gajillion unnecessary regulations making cars obnoxiously expensive. And slapping massive tarrifs on Chinese cars which are a lot cheaper kills the remaining incentive to buy a new car, especially when nowadays it is necessary to reduce the amount of ICE cars and accelerate adoption of EVs. Dumb fckn politicians.

[–] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

I'd rather have the option for a factory installed dashcam or at least a mount for me to install one.

[–] Tryenjer@lemmy.world 20 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

The primary purpose of AI systems is mass surveillance.

[–] 1984@lemmy.today 3 points 11 hours ago
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