Soon there will be a beep in your car to warn you of speeding? From next July, under a 2019 European regulation, all new vehicles must be equipped with an “intelligent speed adaptation” (AIV, or ISA, for Intelligent Speed Assistance) system. , intended to help drivers respect the limits, and thus limit the risk of accidents. An option already mandatory for all new approved models of vehicles sold in Europe since July 2022, and which will be extended in July to “all new vehicles placed on the market and registered for the first time (…), including models marketed before July 2024,” specifies the government on its site.
Such a system works by detecting traffic signs with on-board cameras and/or using the vehicle’s GPS system, and comparing the maximum permitted speed with the actual speed of the vehicle. And this “is activated if you drive, without realizing it, beyond the authorized speed on the road used (departmental road, national road, motorway, etc.)”, we can read on the website of the government.
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Concretely, what form does this device take? As specified in a 2021 European regulation, which supplements that of 2019, a certain latitude is left to manufacturers. ‘An intelligent speed adaptation (ISA) system comprises a speed limit information function (SLIF) and either a speed limit warning function (SLWF) or a speed control function. speed (SCF)”, we can read there.
In other words, the driver is necessarily warned by a visual alert on his dashboard in the event of exceeding the authorized speed, in the form of flashing. It may be accompanied by an audible signal – “continuous or intermittent or by voice information”, specifies the European regulation – or by a hardening or vibration of the accelerator pedal. Second possibility: a visual alert accompanied by progressive deceleration of the vehicle by reducing its power.
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Questioned by our colleagues from BFMTV at the start of the year, Peugeot reported for example that its system will only result in an audible signal and a visual signal, and not in a hardening of the accelerator pedal. It has already existed since April 2023 on the 508, and will therefore be generalized on the rest of its models by this summer. As for Volvo, the Swedish manufacturer explains on its site that its own system includes a flashing of the speed limit icon and, a choice of an audible warning or a reaction from the accelerator pedal.
However, as the European Road Safety Charter points out, it is entirely possible for the driver to override the signals sent by the vehicle. In the case of hardening of the pedal, it can be ignored by pressing slightly harder. “Even in the case of the cruise control function, where the car speed will automatically be reduced smoothly, the system can be easily overridden by the driver by pressing the accelerator pedal a little deeper,” notes she said. If this “intelligent” speed limiter, nicknamed by some “super speed limiter”, will be activated by default each time the vehicle is started, it can be deactivated manually by the driver.