To improve road safety, black boxes will be installed in new vehicles from May 2022 as well as in used vehicles from May 2024. These “event data recorders” will allow police services to better understand the reasons for an accident. However, the data cannot be transmitted to insurance companies, according to Phonandroid.
This new provision was voted in 2019 by European elected officials as well as the European Council of Ministers. These “event data recorders” will have the mission of saving “a whole series of crucial anonymized vehicle data”, indicates the text.
Concretely, the device recorded, in five-second increments, various data such as speed, brake activation, steering wheel angle, force of the collision, seat belt use and even engine speed. Sounds emanating from the cabin will not be recorded, unlike the black box installed in planes.
An announcement which raises some concerns among associations, especially since drivers will have no way of deactivating this recorder, which will in any case be positioned in a place inaccessible to the vehicle owner. The data may also not be used by third parties. The black box will not retain “any information which could allow the individual identification of the vehicle concerned, its owner or its keeper”, specifies the regulation.
As for the impact of such equipment on the price of vehicles, during the vote on the measure in 2019, European parliamentarians assured that it should “not lead to a significant increase in prices for consumers”. However, several manufacturers have already announced increasing amounts in the coming years.
This measure, voted by the European Council of Ministers, will also concern used vehicles from May 2024. In addition, other equipment will be compulsory from May 2022:
| – Intelligent speed adaptation system |
| – Facilitating the installation of an alcohol immobilizer |
| – Driver drowsiness and loss of attention warning systems |
| – Advanced driver distraction warning systems |
| – Emergency stop signals |
| – Reverse detection systems |
| – Event data loggers |
| – Accurate tire pressure monitoring system |
