Every new car sold in Great Britain will need to be fitted with 18 advanced safety technologies as standard, the Department for Transport has confirmed, following a public consultation — though the move could push up the price of new vehicles.
The mandated technologies include automatic emergency braking for pedestrians, cyclists and other vehicles, intelligent speed assistance, drowsiness and attention warning systems, blind spot information systems, emergency lane keeping, tyre pressure monitoring, and reversing motion awareness, among others. Intelligent speed assistance will caution drivers or automatically ease off the vehicle’s speed when a limit is being exceeded, though drivers will retain the ability to switch the system off for a journey or override it by pressing the accelerator — the driver remains legally responsible for sticking to the speed limit regardless.
The changes form part of the government’s wider Road Safety Strategy, which is targeting a 65% reduction in road deaths and serious injuries by 2035. Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the DfT, Simon Lightwood MP, said progress on reducing road deaths had slowed in recent years despite the UK’s strong safety record: “With over 1,600 lives lost and 28,000 people seriously injured on our roads in 2024 alone, further action is needed… Advances in vehicle safety technology offer us a significant opportunity to prevent collisions, reduce casualties and protect the most vulnerable road users.”
Road safety charity Brake has backed the plans, pointing to its own research showing 87% of people consider safety ratings important when choosing a car, and 68% of drivers believe advanced emergency braking should be mandatory in all new UK vehicles. But the DfT’s own consultation summary noted that opponents raised serious concerns, primarily around cost — including the potential impact on vehicle prices, repair bills and long-term maintenance expenses. Some respondents also questioned how reliably the technology would perform in real-world conditions, particularly on rural roads and in poor weather, where road markings can be unclear and systems may trigger false alerts.
Following the consultation, the DfT confirmed it would not mandate alcohol interlock interface facilitation (AIIF) — a connection point that would make it easier to fit an aftermarket breathalyser ignition lock, or “alcolock,” to a vehicle.
For fleet buyers and anyone running a taxi or private hire vehicle, this is one worth watching closely — safety tech that’s currently an optional extra on many models could soon be baked into the sticker price of every new car, which may affect vehicle replacement costs and used-market pricing in the years ahead as the mandate rolls through.
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