Against road accidents, data analysis thanks to the black box installed in each car. This is what theEuropean Union who thinks about technology to avoid future accidents, including those that happen today. On the recommendation of Brussels, the black boxes they will arrive in cars (but also in vans, trucks, buses and so on) next year.
The same regulation, which also paves the way for anti-starting breathalysers and other ADAS systems, establishes that cars must include a “Data recorder” for cars already on the market, approved for sale before 2022. The obligation to have the new ADAS equipment, including the black box, instead it will start in 2024.
The new black box for cars will be placed under the driver’s seat, bolted to the frame, and will record all significant data that can be used later in the event of an accident. It will constantly log and delete information, but it will not acquire images or sounds nor will it indicate the origin of the data, as they will be anonymous.
When and check one car accident, the device will save the information generated in the previous 30 seconds and in the next five seconds , which will then be used for analysis. The system will only do so in the event of accidents that could be more serious and will be activated, as proposed by the EU in a regulation published in 2019, with the activation of the airbag. This will record, among other things, speed, steering movements, the final position of the accelerator, deceleration, the operation of the seat belts or the angle of rotation of the vehicle in the event of a rollover.
After a traffic accident, the authorities in charge will only have to connect the black box to a computer to download the necessary data, which will help to understand the causes and then try to avoid them in the future. And without that give the driver a face or a name.
The data recorded by the black boxes on the cars will be anonymous
Brussels indicates in its regulation that these devices must register and keep “Anonymous data” , so that Member States can use them “to carry out road safety analyzes and evaluate the effectiveness of the specific measures adopted, without the ability to identify the owner or keeper of a particular vehicle “.
The installation of this device, like everything contained in the regulation that establishes the homologation requirements of 2022, is part of the so-called Vision Zero plan, with which the EU intends to end deaths and serious injuries due to road accidents in 2050.
The European Union estimates that the imposition of driver assistance systems as mandatory equipment will avoid 25,000 deaths on the road and 140,000 seriously injured in the next 15 years. The recording of information on road accidents, says the EU, “is a valuable step in obtaining more precise and complete data on accidents”.