ADDW car systems legislated in the EU

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The European Union (EU) has passed legislation that mandates Advanced Driver Distraction Warning (ADDW) systems for new cars produced for sale within the EU (Article 6 clause D).

How it works

From 7 July 2026 onward, all new vehicles sold within the EU must contain cameras that monitor driver behavior and notify them accordingly in case of improper driving conduct - something that had already taken place with M and N type vehicles from 7 July 2024. This is on par with the goal that the EU had set to cut down on road accidents by half, compared to 2019.

The cameras are meant to monitor the driver's gaze, which could result in a warning if it is not directed at the areas that are specified in (Specifically points 3.3.1.1., 3.3.1.2., 3.3.1.3).

The legislation asserts that the data generated by the ADDW system should be contained within a closed loop and may not be made available to 3rd parties. In addition, no data should be collected except that which is necessary to perform the task, and all collected data must be deleted after processing (Article 6 clause 3).

Why it is a problem

With such legislation, privacy concerns are a major issue.

Although the data falls under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the EU has established strong rules, the question remains how effectively the EU can enforce GDPR in the automotive sector, especially as these technologies become more widespread and are used on a daily basis.

Based on past incidents, these concerns are well-founded. For example, in the case of Tesla, employees were found sharing sensitive content from consumer vehicle cameras in private group chats.

Moreover, cars are already regarded as privacy hazards, with manufacturers often selling user information and exhibiting questionable security practices.

Adding to this, NOYB, which is a "European Center for Digital Rights", conducted a survey with more than 1,000 privacy professionals, and 74.4% of them agree that the average company has relevant GDPR violations.