London (CNN Busines) New cars sold in Europe from 2022 will have to be fitted with systems to limit their speed.

Under new safety rules agreed by the European Union, all new vehicles are required to have "intelligent speed assistance" systems as standard equipment.

The EU rules don't mandate specific technology for the systems, which can be temporarily overridden by the driver. Some carmakers have already developed ways of using GPS or cameras to detect posted speed limits and make sure vehicles adhere to them.

European Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska said in a statement that 25,000 people are killed each year on European roads, with the vast majority of accidents being caused by human error.

"With the new advanced safety features that will become mandatory, we can have the same kind of impact as when the safety belts were first introduced," she said.

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