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The Japanese government will mandate the installation of in-vehicle monitoring and warning systems starting in 2031 to prevent accidents caused by smartphone use or drowsy driving while behind the wheel.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 24th, Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has decided to make it mandatory to equip vehicles with a "Driver Monitoring System (DMS)," which uses cameras and sensors to monitor the driver's state and sounds an alarm when attention drifts.
The requirement will apply to all new domestic and imported vehicles sold in Japan.
The Japanese government plans to revise relevant regulations this coming September, prioritizing new vehicle models starting in September 2031, and expanding the mandate to newly manufactured units of existing models two years later.
According to this regulatory proposal, an alarm is designed to sound when traveling at speeds of 50 km/h or faster if the driver's gaze is directed downward toward a mobile phone or similar device for 3.5 seconds or longer.
For the speed range between 20 and 50 km/h, the threshold is set at 6 seconds.
This follows the standards adopted last March by the United Nations World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (WP29).
As the European Union (EU) has already mandated the installation of DMS, Japan is also rushing to introduce the system.
Currently in Japan, automakers such as Toyota, Suzuki, and Subaru have adopted DMS in some of their vehicle models.
According to the National Police Agency of Japan, fatal and serious injury accidents caused by driver distraction and similar factors reached a record high of 148 cases last year.
Market research firm Fuji Keizai projected that the global DMS market will reach 1.2566 trillion yen (approximately 11 trillion KRW) by 2035, growing more than 55-fold compared to 2021.
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