Black box in cars will be mandatory in Europe from mid-year

According to Motor1, all new cars in Europe will be equipped with an “Event Data Recorder” (EDR) as a standard feature starting from July 2024. This regulation applies to passenger cars of category M1 (with a maximum of 9 seats) and light commercial vehicles, N1 category (with a maximum weight of 3,500 kg).

The EDR has a similar role to the black box on an airplane. In fact, the European Union had planned to require new cars here to be equipped with EDR from 2022, but postponed it by two years to give manufacturers more time for preparation. The list of countries applying this regulation includes: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.

The EDR is used to determine the cause of accidents. This device will record all information that occurs within the last 5 seconds before an accident and 0.3 seconds after an accident. According to documents provided by the European Commission, the EDR records and stores the following data: speed, brakes, position and tilt of the vehicle on the road, as well as how integrated safety systems respond. In addition, the EDR also analyzes whether the emergency call system is activated or not, as the eCall feature has become a mandatory equipment on new car models sold in the EU since April 2018. Furthermore, the equipment also comes with integrated information about the model, year of production, and owner’s equipment.

The EDR will be integrated into the airbag control system and cannot be turned off. This device is activated when the bonnet is opened or when the vehicle’s lateral speed suddenly increases by more than 8 km/h within 0.15 seconds.

The information recorded by the EDR is guaranteed to be secure and private. The device operates on a closed system and the data is collected anonymously to ensure that the data cannot be manipulated if it falls into the wrong hands. For the same reason, the last four digits of the vehicle identification number (VIN) are not stored. Any other type of information that could reveal the identity of the owner will also not be recorded. The data is only provided to authorized agencies to assist in accident investigations. Retrieving the information can be done through the OBD interface, but if the connecting port is damaged in the accident, the information can still be accessed directly from the black box.

Thái Sơn (Tuoitrethudo)

Reference: Motor1