Driver monitoring systems 2025 - advanced safety tech tested
In-car camera based monitoring systems to warn of distracted driving are now fitted to some new cars – but are they beneficial or just annoying? We put six of them to the test to find out...
If you've driven a new car recently, you might have been surprised at the number of audible and visual warnings accompanying your progress. It’s not a fault; the alerts are being issued by driver monitoring and other advanced driver assistance systems to tell you that you’re deemed to be doing something wrong, such as driving while distracted.
The European Commission has a goal (known as Vision Zero) of eliminating deaths and serious injuries on its roads by 2050. To help achieve this, it has implemented a strategy called ‘Safe System’, which accepts that people make mistakes, are vulnerable when driving and will benefit from active safety systems.
More of this safety technology was made mandatory on brand new models in phase two of the EU’s General Safety Regulations 2 (GSR2) from August last year. Among that kit is a driver monitoring system that uses a camera inside the car to track the driver’s eye and head movements and sends warnings if they spend too long looking away from the road.
Accident statistics support the introduction of driver monitors. According to the US’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, driver distraction is responsible for 10-30% of crashes in Europe, as well as 16% of fatal accidents and 21% of injury-causing road incidents in the US.
But while some of these systems remain silent until a potentially dangerous situation unfolds, others are overly intrusive. In fact, many are proving so annoying that drivers are turning them off. To try to ensure they are used, it’s a legal requirement that the systems automatically turn themselves back on each time the car is started, making the poorly executed systems even more aggravating for drivers.
How we test driver monitoring systems
To find out how well the latest driver monitoring systems work, we tested those fitted to six new cars. To ensure a level playing field, we chose only to test as many cars as we could that have been introduced since August 2024, when the legal requirement for driver monitoring systems was introduced. We didn’t include models that simply tell the driver to take a break due to drowsiness.
We drove each car twice around a 10-mile test loop that replicated rural A-roads and country lanes. On the first lap, the driver kept their eyes on the road ahead as much as possible, and we noted whether each car gave false distracted driving warnings.
Then we did the route again, making some common eye, head and body movements; for up to five seconds, our driver looked across at the infotainment screen, leaned towards the infotainment screen, looked out of the driver’s side window and downwards into their lap.
We noted whether the systems gave corresponding audible and visual alerts and, if so, how quickly they reacted and how soon the warnings stopped. The optimum wait time before a warning is given is three seconds.
The best driver monitoring systems
1. Mazda Driver Monitoring
Tested in: Mazda CX-80
What Car? Rating 5 stars
The Mazda CX-80’s system gave no false distraction alerts during our first test lap with full concentration levels, so it shouldn’t bother the driver at all in normal driving.
The camera is positioned on the top right corner of the wide infotainment screen, so it should be able to see both tall and short drivers without any problems, and it’s not easy to accidentally obscure it with an arm or hand. It operates from speeds of 3mph, so it will know if you’re looking down at your mobile phone in your lap (which is illegal anyway) while rolling along slowly in traffic and issue a warning.
The CX-80’s system remained silent when we turned our gaze towards the infotainment screen for three seconds, so it shouldn’t hassle drivers over brief interactions with it. However, it did issue audible and visual alerts when we leant over towards the screen.
It also took a reasonable three seconds to give warnings when we looked out of the driver’s side window, and the same time to react when we looked down.
2. Lexus/Toyota Driver Monitor Camera
Tested in: Lexus LBX
What Car? Rating 4 stars
The system in the Lexus LBX proved less intrusive than many of the others. Not only did it stay quiet when we were driving with full concentration, but it also gave fewer additional warnings than all but the Mazda CX-80.
Audible and visual warnings were given after four seconds when the driver was looking out of a side window, looking at the touchscreen or staring down into their lap. However, as with the Volvo, the visual alert disappears so quickly that you don’t always have time to read it.
The driver-facing camera is positioned in the same place as in the Kia and Volvo – on top of the steering wheel cowl – and it thinks you’re being inattentive if it’s covered up. What’s more, our test driver had to raise their seat so that the camera could see their eyes; otherwise, they got repeated warnings.
The system is always functioning in the background, but it issues warnings only at speeds of 6mph and faster.
3. Kia - part of the DriveWise ADAS Pack
Tested in: Kia EV3
What Car? Rating 4 stars
Like the Volvo system, the system in the Kia EV3 has its driver monitoring camera on top of the steering wheel cowl, but you have to accidentally leave your arm in front of it for longer before it issues a warning. It’s also intelligent enough to tell you that the camera can’t do its job properly because it’s obscured, rather than saying that you’re distracted.
It didn’t give any warnings when the driver was looking ahead, but it activated more often than the best systems during our distraction tests. It waited for three seconds before issuing alerts when we looked to one side and when we looked at or leaned towards the infotainment screen, but it also told us we were too tired to drive following a single yawn. Although this system is more sensitive than some, at least it’s consistent, so the driver can learn what sets it off.
The visual alert is a red eye icon in the instrument panel that’s fairly unobtrusive. The system operates from 3mph.
4. Volvo Driver Alert
Tested in: Volvo EX30
What Car? rating 3 stars
Unlike those in the Leapmotor and MG, the EX30’s driver-facing camera is mounted on top of the cowl behind the steering wheel, where it can easily be blocked by your arm. However, it’s clever enough to tell you (swiftly) that it’s been covered up, rather than giving a warning that you’re driving distracted.
This system didn’t give any false alerts on the focused driving lap, and it waited for a reasonable three seconds before issuing visual and audible warnings when our driver looked out of a side window or down at their lap, and when they looked at and leaned towards the touchscreen.
What lets the system down – in the EX30, at least – is that, with no instrument panel in front of the driver, the visual alerts appear as small text prompts at the top of the infotainment screen. These aren’t easy to read, and doing so forces the driver to look away from the road. What’s more, the alerts vanish quickly – often before you’ve looked over to read them and while your body or eyes are still in the ‘distracted driving’ position.
5. MG DMS
Tested in: MG HS
What Car? Rating 2 stars
This system gave two false readings on our first lap: when we glanced out of the driver’s window before a manoeuvre, and again after two seconds when our driver was staring at the instrument panel to read a different warning message that had popped up.
During our distracted driving lap, it took around three seconds to give audible and visual warnings; these came when the driver stared at the touchscreen and leaned towards it, and when they looked down at their lap. It took two seconds to react when the driver looked sideways, which wasn’t consistent with the first warning for this.
Like the Leapmotor, the MG HS issued lots of other audible and visual warnings. It repeatedly told our driver they looked tired after five minutes of driving, so it wasn’t the usual warning to take a break you might expect on a long drive. The overall effect of these alerts could be added distraction.
The camera is at least well positioned on the windscreen pillar on the driver’s side and is active from 6mph.
6. Leapmotor driver drowsiness and attention warning
Tested in: Leapmotor C10
What Car? Rating 1 star
The Leapmotor C10’s system was the least consistent of those tested and seemingly could be triggered by random eye movements, rather than only by the ones it should be looking out for.
During the concentrated driving lap, the alert went off three times: while our driver was looking at the road ahead, when they glanced to one side while approaching a junction, and when they were looking at the instrument panel while reading a different warning message that had popped up.
It didn’t go off when the driver looked at the touchscreen and down into their lap for three seconds, but it did react when they leaned towards the touchscreen.
The camera is on the driver’s windscreen pillar, so it’s not easily obscured, and operates from speeds of 6mph.
The Leapmotor also issued several unnecessary visual warnings for other things, including being too close to the car in front at a roundabout and too close to a kerb.
What Car? verdict
“A well-engineered driver monitoring system is a useful safety aid that should help to stop drivers from doing potentially dangerous things, such as focusing on the infotainment touchscreen for too long while driving, and from breaking the law by using a handheld mobile phone,” said What Car? consumer editor Claire Evans.
“These cameras could have big implications for safety in the future, too. A number of car makers, including Volvo and the Volkswagen Group, are working on active safety technology that uses a number of different in-car systems to intervene in a genuine emergency, such as if the driver has suffered a heart attack, automatically slowing the car and driving it to a safe place at the roadside.
“However, it’s vital that the car companies implement these new systems in the most effective and least intrusive way possible so that they don’t become hated by drivers, because this is likely to result in them being switched off.
“At present, there’s a huge difference in the operation of the best and worst systems. The system in the Mazda CX-80 is an excellent example, being so unintrusive that you don’t know it’s there until it’s needed. In contrast, the continual bleeps and messages from the Leapmotor C10 are highly likely to frustrate drivers.
“This is an emerging technology that’s currently fitted only to a selection of new cars – mainly models launched since August 2024 – but in a few years’ time you won’t be able to buy one without a driver monitor. It’s crucial that car makers work harder to ensure their systems work perfectly, only intervening when there is a genuine risk of an accident.
“For now, if you’re in the market for a recently introduced model, we recommend taking it for a lengthy test drive to see how the driver monitoring system behaves and ensure that you can live with it.”
The evolution of driver assistance systems
The arrival of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) stems from legislation first discussed by the EU and UN in 2009 that became the General Safety Regulations (GSR) in 2022 and the GSR2 from 2023.
The first phase of GSR2 (from July 2023) required all new cars designed after July 2022 to be fitted with automatic emergency braking, a driver drowsiness alert and lane-keeping assistance. In phase two, all new models built from August 2023 and on sale from a year later had to be fitted with driver monitoring and speed limit warning systems.
Although the UK doesn’t have to abide by these regulations, most cars are designed for a Europe-wide audience, so the ones we get are fitted with the technology, whether we want it or not.
ADAS also helps new models to gain more points in Euro NCAP safety tests. However, the current testing regime relies partly on information provided by car makers; the implementation of the systems and their limitations in real-world driving aren’t looked at in any great depth.
Thatcham Research, which conducts Euro NCAP testing in the UK, has seen problems with some cars that have been developed for non-GSR2 markets and then later fitted with the latest ADAS systems. Yousif Al-Ani, Thatcham’s principal researcher for ADAS, says fully integrated systems tend to be better.
Euro NCAP technical director Richard Schram adds: “It is the choice of the manufacturer to commit the time and effort required to avoid driver annoyance, because it does require a significant amount of on-road driving and fine tuning of the ADAS algorithms to ensure these systems are driver-friendly.
“We recognise that some manufacturers have been cutting corners, and we have updated our protocols for 2026 to be able to look at on-road performance and driver acceptance.”
Volvo’s new way of minimising annoyance
Swedish brand Volvo is aiming to address the issue of annoying driver monitoring systems with its new Driving Understanding System, which is standard on the EX90 electric SUV. It has two driver-facing cameras and, according to Volvo, it takes into account small eye and head movements, such as when the driver looks at the infotainment screen to check sat-nav directions or to adjust the air-con, minimising the number of false positive alerts given.
Like other systems, it provides assistance via an audible warning to begin with. However, if the driver continues to be unresponsive, the system will use the car’s exterior cameras, radar and Lidar sensor to bring it to a stop in a safe location.
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