beep

For two years, since June 2024, all new cars have been beeping. They whistle a lot. It is the first disappointment that every driver experiences when they put aside their old car and decide to buy a new one. In Spain, where The average age of the vehicle fleet is 14.6 yearsbuying a new car is the closest thing to experiencing the jump into a black hole and moving into the future. And those who have had the opportunity to brand new car approved from 2022 or purchased as new from 2024 will have experienced that irritable feeling of checking that your new car beeps every now and then. The most obvious thing is with the intelligent speed assistant which, as I commented in this articleit can turn into hell. Now, starting July 7, 2026, every new car must have new driving assistance… or surveillance systems. Driver monitoring will be more proactive to alert the driver in case of distractions so that he can correct his behavior and thus avoid an accident. More surveillance, more beeps To understand all this, you have to go back a little before 2020. Then the European Union approved a project called Vision Zero with which we want to reduce by 50% the road fatalities registered between 2020 and 2030 with those who died between 2010 and 2020. The ultimate objective is to reach zero deaths in 2050. To carry out this ambitious aimthe European Union carried out the obligation to implement a series of safety systems with the aim of reducing accidents. This project has three phases, of which the first came with a huge battery of new systems. As stated in the Regulation (EU) 2019/2144From July 2022, all new cars approved they have to be equipped, among otherswith systems like smart speed assistantemergency braking or the reversing camera. And with the driver fatigue and distraction assistant. In the second phase, it was contemplated that from 2024 every new car had to be sold with the previous equipment, regardless of when the car had been approved. That is, if you buy a car right now, it will have to have these systems. And starting on July 6, 2026, the next phase begins. From the next day, every new registered car must have an even more advanced system to monitor driver distractions and fatigue. Yes, indeed, we are facing an advance of what is already known. What was mandatory until now was the system known as Driver Drowsiness and Attention Warning o Drowsiness and Attention Assistant (DDAW) and from now on cars will have to have the new Advanced Driver Distraction Warning o Advanced Driver Distraction Warning (ADDW). What changes? The first system is more passive than active. The one known as DDAW which is mandatory at this time, analyzes whether or not the driver keeps his eyes on the road and warns when this does not happen. However, it bases its operation on small movements on the steering wheel and general control of the vehicle but, by itself, it is not clear whether we are looking at the mobile phone or simply looking at the rearview mirror repeatedly because we are going to merge onto a highway. The new ADDW system, as explained by our colleagues from Motorpassionis more proactive and it does monitor the movement of our eyes and head but it also has three areas mapped. If our eyes are distracted by something that has happened in a space where it is impossible to keep our attention on the road, such as the roof, the system will alert us. If, on the other hand, the system detects that we are looking at a window or at the central area, where the screen is located, it will allow a few seconds to pass. If the driver keeps his eyes on one of these spaces, the car will begin to beep and send sound and tactile signals (such as the vibration of the steering wheel). The system will activate automatically after six seconds as long as we move between 20 and 50 km/h. Once this threshold is exceeded, the warning will arrive after just 3.5 seconds. He problem with this type of assistants is that sometimes they are much more intrusive than we would like as drivers. We already commented in Xataka that if not well implemented, the speed assistant that works with sign recognition can be all hell. Especially in the city, where the streets constantly change boundaries, the warnings can become desperate. In our experience, the same thing can happen with fatigue detection assistants. If you bought a car after 2022, you may have noticed that your car may beep when, as we said, you are simply checking the rearview mirror to enter a very congested road. The objective of this new system is to be more careful and not fall into these false positives. However, some studies assure that this extensive security package can be too overwhelming for older drivers (who would also benefit the most) and? many others disconnect them Tired of the constant beeping. Some of them, such as speed assistant or distraction monitoring, They are activated with each new ignition and it is mandatory to move between the menus to disconnect them in the vast majority of cars. In addition, this decision by the European Union has also garnered some criticism for increasing the price of vehicles. Especially Daciawhich was the queen of offering the most basic car possible on the market, has complained bitterly about this but what cannot be denied is that part of the increase in car prices comes hand in hand with these new mandatory security improvements. Photo | Xataka and Mazda In Xataka | The industry has been filling cars with complex safety systems for years. The only problem is that we don’t use them