Whilst fitting the tech to limit speeds is easy, the data telling the car what the limit is isn't accurate and until both parts of the equation work properly the system is flawed.

The new rules therefore allow for the system to be deactivated so having a limiter isn't an issue.

This inaccuracy is particularly relevant where a road with a slower speed is parallel to a main road with a higher limit. GPS cant differentiate, and some young drivers with black boxes on the main road have been accused of speeding on the lower speed road.

It's crude technology. Even cars with camera linked to a speed limit display get it wrong.

Implentation is the key to whether this works and/or is acceptable.

Do posted speed limits have tolerance levels or will they be precise - eg: does 30mph mean 30mph, or does a tolerance of (say) 5mph +10% mean 38mph apply.

How intelligent is the system - eg: adjacent roads as already noted.

Does the system use roadside signs, or a central database - eg: where a temporary average speed limit though motorway roadworks applies.

This is coming - the only question is precisely how and when. If fitted to new cars from 2024, there will still be significant numbers of unrestricted cars on the roads until around 2040. By then, driverless will then dominate transport anyway - this is just a step on the road.

No. There has never been a requirement to retrofit such systems, its why you can still buy older yet fully refurbished cars with no indicators, reversing lights, seat belts or airbags,

There will be a date when all newly designed vehicles (again no requirement to update existing production vehickes) will need the new tech. As the date is so close it will already be happening.

Edited by daveyjp on 07/09/2021 at 15:23

The only retrofit legislation I'm aware of was for front seat safety belts for '63- '65 cars, How they got away with that I'll never know.

If age 60+ you may never buy or drive an EV or a car with speed limiting. You may even be able to drive a torquey diesel until the good lord calls time. Autonomous vehicles may never sully your motoring horizons.

This is all possible because S/H vehicles will be available in reasonable numbers, with adequate spares availability for around the next 20-30 years.

The world in which we grew up (I am late 60s) paid little attention to the environment or road safety. The car was both transport and an expression of personal freedoms.

For most of the younger developed world, that which we cherished is a historical anomaly!