this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2026
493 points (99.2% liked)

Technology

86178 readers
4051 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

cross-posted from: https://piefed.world/c/tech/p/1247209/all-cars-sold-in-the-eu-now-require-a-camera-aimed-at-your-face-its-still-not-clear-wher

Starting July 7, 2026, every new car sold in the European Union must include a driver monitoring camera aimed at your face. Glance at your phone, your kids in the back seat, or the radio for too long, and the car will flash a warning light and sound an alert.

Automakers have known this was coming for years. What they, and EU regulators, have never spelled out is what happens to that footage after the alert goes off.

While the intention behind the new system is difficult to dispute, its implementation has raised several concerns. Early real-world testing suggests the distraction warnings can be overly sensitive and potentially distracting.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Faceman2K23@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 day ago (8 children)

My 2021 car has this. it has no cellular data connection or significant internal storage and the camera just has what I assume is a very basic neural net that looks for signs of distraction. like the eye tracker modules some phones and laptops have. These are low-res greyscale IR cameras usually.

I'm OK with it, and it's helped me out a few times, though I know some cars are more aggressive and beep at you just for looking at your own mirrors.

Some cars however have full time cabin recording that you dont have much control over, and some do have full time data connections that could theoretically send some kind of snapshots on events, but they arent going to do full time video streaming or uploading large video files.

[–] JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

it has no cellular data connection or significant internal storage

That you know of. Pretty easy to hide those things amongst all the rest of the electronics.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 50 points 1 day ago (3 children)

I dont like being constantly monitored. I dont want to normalize the lack of privacy.

[–] sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

If it really was a low res camera that didn't phone home, save data, and was difficult to hack into, for me personally the benefits would outweigh the (limited) privacy malus.

Everyone thinks they're a good driver, but collisions still happen, and no one deserves to be killed by someone in a car.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

If it was a closed circuit that had no way of sending info to anyone anywhere that would be one thing, but data is the new gold and, I dont trust governments or private businesses enough to give them access to a camera on me whenever I am driving.

[–] sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 2 points 12 hours ago

Me neither. It's a big if.

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

my phones are pin or pattern only

[–] NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 4 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Iphone SE's didnt have face unlock but still use the IR camera to scan your face every second.

Just because you don't use it doesn't mean it's not being used on you (apologies for breaking it to you)

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Apologies for not using Apple products

[–] NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Oh nah no need to apologise, their products haven't been good for decades. Merely making a point about how tech can be entirely hidden from the user

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 3 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I just learned about internetless TVs that build mesh networks until one TV is found that can access the internet... that sounds like infiltrating a WiFi network and should be illegal.

[–] NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 2 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Wait until you hear about the facial recognition and expression reading cameras built into the fast food 'order here' screens

[–] crandlecan@mander.xyz 2 points 1 hour ago

Another place where I never go. I'm starting to feel proud about my decision making about now...

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I do a pass code, but yeah, no finger prints or shudders facial scans

[–] Shellofbiomatter@lemmus.org 2 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Am i the only one using the simple slide up to unlock?

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Honestly, I would guess you're one of a very small minority, yeah. Because phones get lost, stolen, or confiscated by fascist "law enforcement" pretty commonly. Or someone you know picks it up while you're gone.

Most people like a degree of privacy. Even my grandma has a pin on her phone.

[–] Shellofbiomatter@lemmus.org 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yeah I've noticed that most people are rather baffled when i say i have no passcode or anything on my phone.

I just find that the risk of any of the affirmationd things happening is low enough that it doesn't outweigh the annoyance that comes from entering passcodes tens of times a day.

But I'm not in the USA so risk profiles are slightly different.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 0 points 21 hours ago

Most people like a degree of privacy.

313 million people have Meta accounts.

Some simple patterns code can be very quick to do, and not much different from a slide up, while still keeping most people out.

[–] civilfolly@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I would suggest to start practicing to say goodbye to privacy, bank accounts, etc etc etc etc etc, when your phone is stolen.

[–] Shellofbiomatter@lemmus.org 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Bank account does have a passcode, mandatory. Steam as well. Privacy is kinda irrelevant, what's a random thief going to do with my messages or grocery list?

Good thing i have a phone that's not really marketable and thus not really tempting anyone to steal it.

But how likely is it that a phone gets stolen? Of course that might depend on a location, but locally that's an anomaly. So it's the old point of security feature itself becoming a bigger nuisance than the threat of whatever it's trying to protect me from.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca -1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I dont like being constantly monitored

Then stay off public roads. Traffic lights, stop signs are just THE MAN telling us what to do.

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 3 points 21 hours ago

What a false equivalence...

[–] bladerunnerspider@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

yet another reason why I dont like Teslas, or honestly any vehicles with onboard video recording and cellular connections.

[–] mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

how has it helped you?

The only thing I can think of is that it detected you were sleepy when you knew that and had already chosen to continue driving

[–] sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 points 12 hours ago

There are definitely times where ive thought I'm alert enough to drive, and then something happened where I realized that no, I was not.

Easy enough to switch drivers or pull over and nap.

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

What's the make and model of the car?

[–] Prox@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

What happens when you wear sunglasses?

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 1 points 21 hours ago

a large metal blade unfolds from the headrest and severs your head is the safe assumption.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 5 points 1 day ago

Believe it or not, straight to jail.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca -1 points 21 hours ago

My 2021 car has this. it has no cellular data connection or significant internal storage and the camera just has what I assume is a very basic neural net that looks for signs of distraction.

What? an actual fact?

Nononono.....every driver will now be monitored by a committee in China.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca -1 points 1 day ago

The same people who hate on this also like to drive drunk or while watching tiktok.