The EU Commission recently approved a mandate for all new vehicles to have speed limiting technology by the year 2022, but while some have praised the decision others have condemned the EU for what some are calling an overreach of power.

Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) limiters are a cousin of automation, and with companies like Tesla already putting the technology into their cars some say that we should wait for the natural progression. Automobiles are changing fast with or without laws requiring them to. But what actually is this technology, what are the risks that come with it? And what are the benefits?

Intelligent Speed Assistance

ISA works with cameras that have traffic-sign recognition and are installed to detect the appropriate speed limit for the road using GPS data. GPS allows the car to know traffic conditions, who is on the road, and what the appropriate speed is for those conditions. Using these cameras, the system adjusts the speed when necessary.

There are also warnings in the system when the driver is speeding or going too fast for traffic conditions, and alerts will be given at or below the speed limit. ISAs do not apply the brakes, instead they limit engine power by preventing the vehicle from accelerating. All of this can be overridden by pushing hard on the accelerator, a setting that was built to avoid dangerous situations. The ISA system will come with an on/off switch, which the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) called for while acknowledging the risks of the system.

There are additional safety features that include autonomous emergency braking, lane assist, driver fatigue detection, reserve cameras, and data loggers. The cards can also be fitted for breathalyzers for people who have been convicted of a DUI.

The EU Commission Vote

This year the EU ruled that all new cars will have to have speed limiting technology by the year 2022. They are mandating the ISA as one of the several new safety measures that are expected to be approved by the European Parliament this month. While supporter of the technology praised the vote, others have said that it is too soon to know that the technology can be flawlessly mandated and that it represents an overreach of power by the EU.

Speed limiting technology will definitely save lives when every car has it, but there will also be a transition between fully automated roads and partially automated roads. Since humans and machines compute risk differently, this might actually cause accidents. It is also a debate between forcing human beings to be safe and giving them the freedom to make their own decisions, whether they are safe or not.

Benefits of the ISA

Research performed by the EU Commission determined that there would be an estimate reduction of traffic collisions by 30 percent. It also estimated that there will be up to 25,000 lives saved in the first 15 years of using the technology. Still these are bias statistics, backed by an agenda. Research also found that speed limiters calm traffic, reduce insurance costs, and reduce CO2 emissions. They have argued that the lives saved will be far greater than any mishaps caused by the technology.

Problems with ISA

There are unanswered questions about the ISA. According to the specialists at MoneyPug, which is used to find car insurance, insurance companies are skeptical about the technology. For one, if successful insurance profit will go way down. But there are still concerns about slowing down enough in school areas and getting out danger in slow-moving areas. We don't know how successful this technology is when it is left on while other cars without ISA surrounding it.

Still, despite the debate over the mandate, this technology is coming whether we like it or not. Even beyond ISA, 5G networks will facilitate automated vehicles. Soon we will all be buying self-driving cars with ISA technology and much, much more. Some think that the EU is overstepping with the mandate, but they are hoping to avoid 140,000 serious injuries by 2038 and cut road deaths down to none by 2050. It doesn't matter what you think of government mandates, this technology will soon be ubiquitous.