Big brother-style car surveillance coming to Oz

Australia’s top independent crash testing authority will begin assessing driver distraction technology from next year, it has confirmed.

Starting in 2020, the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) and its European equivalent, Euro NCAP, will evaluate more involved driver monitoring devices designed to mitigate the effects of fatigue, distraction and medical episodes at the wheel. Importantly, the Australian testing will be based on information provided by manufacturers.

Already fitted to many new models, ‘driver impairment’ detection technology uses in-car cameras to monitor a vehicle operator’s eyes, as well as sensors that measure steering wheel inputs and other driver behaviours in a bid to reduce distraction behind the wheel.

The technology will become a fully-fledged element of ANCAP testing parameters from 2022, it was confirmed this week.

The drowsiness detection software could pave the way for speed-limiting and potentially recording devices, as fitted to heavy commercial vehicles, in all new vehicles.

In Europe, speed-limiting technology known as intelligent speed assistance (ISA) is set to be introduced from 2022 and mandated in all new cars from 2024. The technology uses GPS data and sign recognition to sound a warning and slow the vehicle down if it is exceeding the limit – however, these systems can still be turned off..

However, ANCAP says at present there is no change to Australian speed assist protocols.

In the meantime, ANCAP says it is studying the provision of ‘vehicle-to-vehicle’ (V2V) and ‘vehicle-to-infrastructure’ (V2X) communication devices – via which cars can communicate with one another or road infrastructure to help create a safer driving environment.

However, ANCAP chief executive James Goodwin says those regulations won’t come into effect until 2024.

“As we move towards increasing levels of vehicle automation, our upcoming protocols will look to reward and encourage models with the ability to ‘talk’ to other vehicles and ‘read’ the road environment,” he said.

“A vehicle’s ability to know the position of, or to recognise, another vehicle will bring significant safety benefits and this is likely to be the basis of our approach.”

Goodwin believes V2V and V2X technology can be incorporated into new vehicles without “significant” price increases at least initially, by “vehicle brands perhaps introducing the technology in their higher-spec variants and therefore seeing dual [ANCAP] ratings for different variants within a model range”.

For starters, ANCAP says it supports the adoption of driver impairment technology in new cars.

“We’re going to start testing driver impairment and driver fatigue next year. The 2020 regulations are a small step, but 2022 will represent a big step and this starts the process for this new protocol,” Goodwin told carsales.

“No longer is a coffee cup icon appearing on the instrument cluster after a two-hour drive reminding you to take a break acceptable. What we’re expecting now is the vehicle will be able to detect steering inputs, looking at eye movements and those sorts of things, alerting the driver or bringing the vehicle to a slow down or to a stop if the driver continues to be impaired.”

Goodwin’s sentiments come as the NSW government introduces fixed and mobile cameras on state roads designed to catch drivers illegally using their mobile phones.

While the incoming driver impairment technology is focussed on fatigue, medical episodes and distraction, a bi-product of the new technology will ultimately be eliminating illegal mobile phone use.

“We’re referring to it as impairment, but a lot of people are saying it will also stop people on their phones while driving. It might do that but that’s not what we’re specifically looking at,” said Goodwin.

“With modern vehicles you’re also likely to be connected and able to dictate a message via the phone and all of that. I would hope people would not be using a handheld phone with a vehicle offering this technology, but if they are then it would do it.

“I’m not overdoing that this is to stop people talking on the phone. What we’re looking at is the impairment of the driver.

“If they’re no longer concentrating on the driving task, then the vehicle will start intervening; it could be that someone’s had a medical incident, it could be because they’re fatigued or it could be that they’re distracted because they are bending down, talking on their phone, eating their sandwich or turning around to talk to their kids.

“We’re looking at that technology to be able to tell the driver that they are impaired and they need to stay focused on the task at hand.”