What is the General Safety Regulation?

The General Safety Regulation (GSR) relates to the EU Regulation 2019/2144 that was adopted on 27th November 2019 and will come into force from 2022. GSR relates to vehicle safety devices and specifies different requirements for various vehicle types including cars, vans, trucks and buses. GSR requires the mandatory fitment of certain safety devices at Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) level. Some vehicle types have a greater number of vehicle safety devices imposed, for instance larger vehicles and those with larger blind spots.

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Why are these Systems Being Made Mandatory?

The EU recognises that there have been huge strides in vehicle safety which has contributed significantly to the overall reduction in the number of road fatalities and serious injuries. These include specifications such as the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS), the Construction, Logistics and Community Safety (CLOCS), Van Excellence and the Direct Vision Standard (DVS). Similar schemes have also been adopted abroad, for instance in Germany, Abbiegeassistent. However the EU has ambitious plans to eliminate road deaths and injuries and wants to see more done to reduce those figures.

Why do these Systems Have to be Type Approved?

GSR requires vehicle safety solutions to be fitted via type approval methods to ensure consistent levels of fitment that can be assessed in a repeatable and measurable manner.

What Products are required?

These are a range of vehicle safety devices required for varying vehicle types including:

Intelligent speed assistance
Alcohol interlock installation
Driver drowsiness and attention warning
Advanced driver distraction warning
Emergency stop signal
Reversing detection
Event data recorder
Pedestrian and cyclist collision warning
Blind spot information systems
Indirect vision systems
Front nearside proximity sensors
Audible warnings
Lane departure warning

When do requirements come into force?

GSR comes into force from 2022, depending on age of the vehicle and vehicle type.

  • From 2022
  • From 2024
  • From 2026
  • From 2029

From 2022

From 2024

From 2026

From 2029

How Can Brigade Help?

Brigade representatives sit on the UNECE IWG working group to advise and support policy development. We are experts in a wide range of vehicle safety devices, particularly vulnerable road user detection for the; nearside, rear and front of the vehicle. We have a large engineering department that design award winning safety solutions to meet both aftermarket and OEM standards. Our expertise covers ultrasonic, radar, camera, digital recording and RFID object detection technologies.

Innovation

Most recently Brigade launched Sidescan®Predict, Supported by the Knowledge Transfer Partnership initiative with Cambridge University. The aim was to develop a cost-effective and reliable collision detection system that can intelligently discriminate potential collisions and warn the driver with sufficient time for intervention – a predictive system.

Having been in development and undergoing rigorous testing over several years, 10,000 hours of research and representing an investment of over £0.5m, Sidescan®Predict underwent its first trials in 2020 receiving excellent driver feedback. Drivers noticed a significant reduction in the risk of collision with both VRU’s and static objects.

Sidescan®Predict is just one of the systems that will support the requirements of GSR. Brigade’s product roadmap includes developments for driver drowsiness and attention warning and advanced driver distraction warning systems.

Working with some of the largest OEMs, Brigade develops bespoke solutions to meet stringent standards. Brigade’s engineering team manages product development plus in-house research and development. Products are of a consistently high standard, achieving ISO 9001 Quality Management certification. Products are tested beyond industry standards and pushed to their maximum capabilities to achieve quality and reliability.

Brigade’s Solutions

Brigade’s product range already includes many of the building blocks required for GSR including:

  • Front, rear and side detection
  • Devices for indirect vision
  • Pedestrian and cyclist collision detection and warning systems
  • Audible alerts
  • Digital recording systems with event data
  • Indirect vision systems both active and passive

Our engineering team are currently developing our systems further to integrate with intelligent driver assistance systems to meet GSR requirements and beyond.