- Improving testing for vulnerable road user protection is planned

- More robust and efficient driver assistant systems to be developed

Euro NCAP has revealed its roadmap for the ongoing decade, in a bid to improve car safety testing and technologies. Reflecting the technological shift to encourage assisted and automated driving systems, the four key areas of Euro NCAP assessment - in place since 2009 - will be adjusted to four distinct phases of a potential crash event: Safe Driving; Crash Avoidance; Crash Protection; and Post-Crash Safety.

This change will take effect from 2026, with Euro NCAP moving to a three-year protocol update cycle. The testing body will be phasing in virtual testing, improving testing for vulnerable road user protection, and introducing rating incentives for a range of driver monitoring systems. Key additions to the programme over the next decade will include testing and assessment of assisted and automated driver support systems. Also in focus will be the assessment of technology that monitors driver impairment and cognitive distraction.

Lastly, requirements to further improve the real-world efficacy of speed assistance technology will also be introduced. Active safety tests, which more closely simulate real road environments and examine human-machine interaction (HMI) design, will ensure more robust and efficient driver assistant systems. Euro NCAP will also be working towards passive safety tests which give greater focus to gender equality and the aging population of drivers/occupants.