The Ineos Grenadier will soon be forced to be fitted with advanced safety technology – like autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning and other features it currently lacks but which are common on most new cars – due to global changes in regulations.

The Ineos Grenadier is currently coming to Australia with relatively little security equipment. While it will still meet Australia’s minimum safety standards, the lack of technologies like autonomous emergency braking, traffic sign recognition and lane departure warning mean it would likely receive a zero star rating out of five from independent agency ANCAP and its European counterpart.

However, with government regulations requiring a higher level of safety equipment as a minimum standard, Ineos Automotive must include more safety technology to stay on sale and comply with the new regulations.

Most cars already come with such technology as standard, but Ineos has opted to launch the vehicle as a bare-bones offering and add the extra security technology later.

This is despite Ineos’ well-documented plan to keep the Grenadier as simple as possible – mechanically and electronically.

Justin Hocevar – local boss for Ineos Automotive in Asia Pacific – said drive Australia is on the verge of receiving additional security technology as it becomes available.

However, some of these may not come equipped as standard equipment – although, for example, the cheapest Ute in the Isuzu D-Max lineup, starting at $31,990, comes fully equipped with every safety tech available.

“If (autonomous emergency braking) is added to the portfolio, we would add it to the Australian market,” Mr Hocevar said drive.

“Some (advanced driver assistance systems) we could consider as options because we find that some people in that category say, ‘Just hold it to me, please.’ If others want it, it is there.”

Currently, the Ineos Grenadier has six airbags inside (front, side and head airbags) and is equipped with anti-lock braking system and stability control.

However, crash-avoidance technologies that are now considered the bare minimum by most automakers — like autonomous emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, lane departure warning, and traffic sign recognition — aren’t currently available at any cost.

Ineos Automotive says these elements were not originally included in order to keep the Grenadier as simple as possible. In its current form, the Grenadier uses only about 35 “computers” throughout the vehicle. Engineers from Ineos Automotive told drive other vehicles of a similar size would use between 75 and 100 computers by comparison, while a large luxury EV may use as many as 200.

In Australia, all new passenger cars must have autonomous emergency braking as standard from March 2023. Any existing car for sale must be included by March 2025.

Commercial vehicles such as vans, vans and those with a gross vehicle weight rating of over 3500 kg (like the Ineos Grenadier) have a slightly longer deadline: November 2023 for new models and February 2025 for existing models.

In Europe, by July 7th, 2024, all new vehicles must have intelligent speed assistants, reversing detection with camera or sensors, driver drowsiness alert, emergency stop signal and cyber security measures.

Cars and vans in Europe also require lane departure warning, advanced emergency braking functions and event data recorders.