8 years ago, car manufacturers were forced to equip reversing cameras – what could be next? – Jalopnik

In 2014, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) completed a multi-year process that led to a new safety standard: all new cars and trucks sold in the United States must be equipped with rearview cameras starting in May 2018. The initiative was aimed at preventing back-over accidents, which according to NHTSAcaused an average of 210 deaths and 15,000 injuries annually. Worse, the same studies found that children under the age of five and adults aged 70 or over were disproportionately affected.

However, no software is ever perfect and there are many factors that ultimately determine whether an accident occurs. For example, the GMC Sierra has a backup camera that is virtually useless at night (the same goes for most other trucks), while Ford recently recalled 1.1 million trucks due to camera problems. Anyway, fast forward to 2026, and we have numerous safety technologies that can reduce accidents in various environments, just like a rearview camera can.

Innovations such as automatic emergency braking, lane departure warnings and pedestrian detection systems have all proven effective in research and in practice. Yet their adoption – at least for now – is largely left to the market, with NHTSA only able to recommend – not mandate – them. This begs the question: what could happen next? This is our educated guess, along with any challenges that could follow.

At the time of writing, it seems like there’s a good chance that automatic emergency braking (AEB) will be next. This is because, in 2024, NHTSA has signed a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) rule that effectively requires all new passenger cars and light trucks to offer AEB systems by September 2029. During the finalization process, then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a press statement that “the new vehicle safety standards we finalized today will save hundreds of lives and prevent tens of thousands of injuries every year.”

The rule requires all cars to stop to avoid collisions; they must detect pedestrians in daylight and in the dark and brake up to 150 km/h for vehicles and 72 km/h for pedestrians. There is credible data supporting such a rule. According to a study published in Accident analysis and preventionVehicles equipped with Forward Collision Warning and AEB systems experience up to 50% fewer rear-end collisions compared to vehicles without these systems.

However, AEB relies on code and, like any software, can misinterpret data or experience problems. For example, AEB systems are still poor at preventing collisions with motorcycles and semi-autos. Although automakers have filed lawsuits against NHTSA in an attempt to challenge the feasibility of the rule, it is still set to go into effect in 2029.

Before the turn of the millennium, Mercedes was one of the very first brands to offer Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) systems – not for top models such as the S-Class, but for the Actros semi-truck. After that, technology continued to evolve. Nowadays it is difficult to find a car that does not come with LKA from the factory. More specifically, a recent market survey by PARTS found that LKA adoption in the US grew from 1.4% in 2015 to 86.3% in 2023.

This makes LKA a viable candidate for official adoption by NHTSA. LKA is usually combined with Lane Departure Warning (LDW), but car manufacturers handle this differently. Some vibrate the steering wheel, some sound warnings, some flash the lights, some steer you backwards or brake, and some even struggle with the steering wheel to gain control. However, at one NHTSA press release from 2024, the agency updated its 5-Star Safety Ratings program, which is officially intended to evaluate LKA under the New Car Assessment Program.

This means that tests will be carried out, that standardization can start and ultimately lead to the same outcome as AEB. LKA represents an essential part of the six levels of automated driving, meaning it can could also be a springboard for future rules-based self-driving car initiatives. Anyway, a study of available accident data published in 2022 by SAE International showed that LKA can reduce the number of lane departure-related accidents by approximately 60%.

In addition to lane-keeping assistance systems such as LKA and LDW, the aforementioned NHTSA 5-Star Safety Ratings program also included blind spot assist and even an active blind spot system that can intervene. The world’s first 2003 Volvo XC90 Blind Spot Assist Monitor worked by using cameras and radars in the rearview mirrors to detect vehicles. The more modern systems complement this with improved radars, smarter object recognition or even LiDAR systems, which can effectively provide high-resolution 3D maps.

Research by the Insurance Institute for Road Safety (IIHS) has shown that blind spot assistance systems can reduce lane change crashes by 14% and lane change crashes involving injuries by 23%. Some car manufacturers have even gone a step further. Hyundai and Kia use a very handy piece of technology that broadcasts camera images from the car’s blind spot when you indicate that you want to change lanes.

On his YouTube channel, reviewer Doug DeMuro praised Hyundai and Kia’s blind spot camera system, saying, “It works beautifully. The way this works is fantastic; I love this feature.” Another advantage of blind spot monitoring systems is that they are usually inactive. This means that the car only warns you if something may be in your blind spot, but does not intervene in the same way as LKA or AEB.

Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of crashes and fatalities on America’s roads. According to the IIHSAs many as 8% of all crash deaths on U.S. roads can be at least partially attributed to distracted driving. With the looming presence of flashy dashboard screens, smartwatches, phones and other gadgets, this problem won’t go away on its own.

To make matters worse, many driver assistance systems cause us to become even more distracted. Nevertheless, this is an area where driver attention monitoring (DAM) systems can help if designed properly. It all started in the 1990s when Toyota presented its DAM, which used an infrared camera to monitor the driver. However, the Department of Transport currently relies on a set of comprehensive guidelines to reduce driver distraction.

Therefore, there are no official statements from NHTSA indicating that DAM systems are likely to be required by law anytime soon, if ever. In an information-driven world, where car interiors can sometimes be a distraction, DAM systems can certainly help catch inattention. Still, one downside of DAM systems is privacy: having a camera watching you while driving isn’t something most drivers would readily accept as a legal requirement.