The General Safety Regulation 2019/2144, more commonly reffered to as GSR2 is a new standard that vehicles including cars, vans, trucks and trailers have to adhere to.
Coming into force in from July 2024, all vehicles registered in the EU must comply with GSR2 as part of the EU's 'Vision Zero' goals to have zero road fatalities or serious injuries on Europe's roads by 2050.
The first GSR regulations were introduced on 6 July 2022 with mandatory advanced driver assistant systems to improve road safety. It's purpose was to establishes the legal framework for the approval of automated and fully driverless vehicles within the EU.
The hope was that the new safety measures would better protect passengers, pedestrians and cyclists, saving more than 25,000 lives and 140,000 serious injuries by 2038.
The 2022 measures introduced a handful of mandatory safety features to help assist the driver of all vehicles from cars, vans, trucks and buses.
These included: Intelligent speed assistance, reversing detection with camera or sensors, attention warning in case of driver drowsiness or distraction, event data recorders as well as an emergency stop signal.
Additionally, for cars and vans, the original GSR meant they had to have lane keeping systems and automated braking.
GSR2 is the updated version of, you guessed it, GSR. It's a more strigent set of regulations with an eye on the fast-evolving technology for autonomous vehicles and drivereless cars.
As part of GSR2 safety regulations there are now more than 20 technology systems required to be standard on all new cars and vans sold in the EU and the UK.
Plans had been discussed for more than a decade before the EU finalised its proposals during 2019.
Existing vans already on sale also had to be retrofitted with the upgrades in order to stay on sale, prompting a range of minor upgrades and specification changes. GSR2 has also meant a levelling of the playing fields and more harmony between brands. Where previously the more premium brands were the vans to have an abundance of safety systems, there is now a higher level of systems across the board.
