Tag Archives: EU

DMS requirement to become law in EU

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I can now confirm that the new European Union ‘General Safety Regulation’ rules are set to enter into force in January/February 2020, then start applying 30 months later.

The process, I’ve been told by an EU spokesperson, is as follows:

  1. The Council of the EU decides to adopt by accepting the European Parliament’s (EP) amendments to the Commission Proposal (8th November)
  2. Then the act is signed by the President of the EP and the General Secretary of the Council in the week beginning 25th November.
  3. Within a month it gets published in the Official Journal of the EU.  The act in this case provides that it enters into force (obtains legal existence) 20 days after publication in the OJ.

The act also provides for a 30-month transitional period for most provisions, which means it will only start to apply 30 months after entry into force.

Note: the exact date(s) will be known only once the act has been published in the OJ as all deadlines depend on that date.

2020 the year of DMS

Enough of EU procedures: the good news is that from 2020 there will be a legal requirement for all completely new car models to have systems to monitor drivers for drowsiness and also distraction by June 2022, while even refreshed models will have to comply by 2024.

Euro NCAP, which has traditionally set car safety standards well beyond legislative requirements, is pushing equally hard for advanced driver monitoring. It is developing test and assessment protocols that will be introduced at the beginning of 2021. Moreover, requirements to measure driver distraction and fatigue/drowsiness will be built into Euro NCAP’s 5 star safety ratings from 2022.

Thatcham Research, is also working with Euro NCAP to develop testing protocols to ensure future cars have effective driver monitoring systems.

While these regulations and standards are intended to be ‘technology neutral’, it is now obvious that the only technology that can effectively meet these requirements is camera-based DMS.

This is very positive news for Seeing Machines, in particular, and I’m expecting some big auto contracts to be announced soon.

The writer still holds SEE stock!

EU mandates DMS for 2020

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As part of a move to make European roads safer the EU today recommended making driver monitoring systems mandatory for new cars. It’s a momentous decision that is great news for Seeing Machines, causing its share price to shoot up today and Cenkos to upgrade its price target from 10p to 16p.

I asked Colin Barnden Lead Analyst at Semicast Research for his reaction and this is it:

Colin Barnden: So the paint is still wet from the announcements today, but I can draw some basic conclusions.

The EC has today announced the WHEN for a series of automotive systems to become mandatory, a list which includes distracted & drowsiness driver monitoring systems (DMS). My reading of the timeline is as follows:

  • 1 September 2020 for Type Approval (the certification process for new models, facelifts, major changes etc.).
  • 1 September 2022 for all other new cars, irrespective of Type Approval.

That is a two year phase-in period, and from today to the beginning of September 2022 gives a little over four years. That is a sensible timeframe over which to introduce a new technology like DMS.

The EC appears to have left the WHAT of a DMS to be defined by Euro NCAP and I expect the specifics of DMS requirements to follow in short order. This doesn’t guarantee that camera-based DMS will be mandated, nor specified by Euro NCAP. However looking at some of the other systems on the list (AEB, LKAS, ISA, EDR) these are all electronic systems so it would not follow that a mechanical (and very poor) DMS would be specified, even more so for a primary safety feature. Also the entire focus of this regulatory announcement is road safety. I regard AEB, ISA and LKAS as systems needed to compensate for distracted and drowsy drivers, so the obvious way to improve road safety is not so much to correct speed and steering errors, but to keep hands on the wheel, eyes on the road and minds on the task [of driving]. The very best DMS is the obvious way to do that and that points to a camera-based system, from the likes of Seeing Machines for example.

There are two excellent articles I would suggest as backgrounders for your readers for DMS:

http://www.thedrive.com/tech/20843/elon-musk-reportedly-rejected-driver-monitoring-for-tesla-autopilot-but-why

https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333236

If I were to also speculate on the WHERE; my view is that Japan will go next for mandatory DMS, probably followed by South Korea. Also, OEMs in the US are on a voluntary agreement (not mandated by NHTSA) to introduce AEB by 2022. I would speculate that they would be highly likely to add DMS on the same timeline.

The key is now what Euro NCAP announce.

Chris Menon: What exactly is the difference between ‘Type Approval’ cars and other new cars?

Colin Barnden: Okay. So, as an example, take the VW T-ROC. It was just launched and would have gone through Type Approval probably late last year. Type Approval is a bit like a new car MOT, someone looks over it and says: “Yes it has seat belts, yes, it has airbags, yes, it has brakes etc.” If it meets all the legislation in place at the time it gets
 ‘Type Approval’. Provided no changes are made to the car it maintains Type Approval and no more need be done. Sometimes this can last for four or five years until the model is refreshed. However, from 1 September 2022, new T-ROCs would need to have DMS added, not for Type Approval (which it already has) but to be legal for sale.

Now take a next generation Golf going for Type Approval on 2 September 2020. The list will have another entry “yes, it has DMS” and you get Type Approval. If it doesn’t have DMS, it doesn’t get Type Approval and cannot be sold in the EU.

So on 1 September 2020, only cars going through Type Approval will have to have DMS (or a bit before most likely). By 1 September 2022, it will be in 100% of new cars sold in the EU. This is how the phase-in is managed.