Version 2 records on its own: the start and end of your working day, every border crossing, loading and unloading, and your driving time every three hours.
Crossing a border on version 2: no manual entry needed anymore.
Remote checks: can read a fixed list of signals while you're driving, but can never base an automatic fine on that.
What version 2 records on its own
The regulation spells out exactly what the second generation records automatically:
the starting place of the daily working period — every time the vehicle crosses the border of a Member State — every time the vehicle performs loading or unloading activities — every three hours of accumulated driving time, and — the ending place of the daily working period.
Regulation (EU) No 165/2014, Article 8(1).
Four things you partly had to keep track of yourself on older devices, this device now handles on its own, based on satellite position.
Crossing the border: the difference per generation
For a few years now, the country symbol has had to be recorded at every border crossing. Who has to do that depends on what's sitting in your dashboard:
| Analogue tachograph | manual, required since 20 August 2020 |
| Digital and first smart generation | manual, required since 2 February 2022, at the nearest possible stop after the border |
| Smart tachograph version 2 | automatic, you do nothing |
The regulation says so itself, in the same article as the entry duty:
It shall not be necessary for drivers to enter the information referred to in the first subparagraph if the tachograph is automatically recording location data in accordance with Article 8.
Regulation (EU) No 165/2014, Article 34(7), last subparagraph. Accessed 26 August 2026. Article 8 is quoted above: it comes down to the device in the vehicle, not the generation of your card.
If you're driving an older device, also read what it costs if you forget the country code.
Who has to have version 2
The retrofit duty doesn't apply to everyone. The regulation ties it to vehicles used in a Member State other than their Member State of registration. If you drive exclusively domestically, nothing needed retrofitting.
Regulation (EU) No 165/2014, Article 3(4) and (4a).
For international transport the rollout ran in stages, according to the calendar published by the Commission: new vehicles have had version 2 since 21 August 2023, analogue and ordinary digital devices had to convert before the end of 2024, and the first smart generation before 19 August 2025.
Enforcement can read your tachograph while you drive
This is the part most questions are about. Control authorities can use roadside equipment to request data from your tachograph while the vehicle is moving. But that's tightly bounded. The connection can only be initiated by the control authority's own equipment, and only a fixed list of signals that could point to manipulation or misuse may be exchanged:
| Security | the latest security breach attempt |
| Power and sensors | the longest power supply interruption, sensor fault, motion data error or conflict |
| Card use | driving without a valid card, card insertion while driving |
| Settings | time adjustment data, calibration data from the two latest calibrations |
| Vehicle | registration number, recorded speed, exceeding maximum driving time |
Regulation (EU) No 165/2014, Article 9(3) and (4).
Your actual driving and rest times, your positions, and your personal data are not on that list. It's a pre-selection tool: whoever looks suspicious gets pulled over, whoever looks clean drives on.
No automatic fines, and the data gets deleted
In no case shall a remote early detection communication of the type described in this Article lead to automatic fines or penalties for the driver or transport undertaking.
Regulation (EU) No 165/2014, Article 9(8).
So a remote readout can only ever lead to an ordinary roadside check, never straight to a fine. And the data requested has to be deleted at the latest three hours after the exchange, unless it points to possible manipulation. If the check that follows doesn't confirm that, it still gets deleted.
Two more things from the same article. The data may only be used to verify compliance and may not be passed on to anyone other than the control authorities and, in an ongoing procedure, the courts. And your employer is required to inform you that remote communication is possible.
Also read
- Tachograph readout: how often, by whom, and your rights
- Why the device runs on UTC and what you do at the clock change
- Tachograph: the 56-day rule
Sources
- Regulation (EU) No 165/2014 on tachographs in road transport, Article 3(4) and (4a), Article 8(1), Article 9 and Article 34(7), consolidated version of 31 December 2024. EUR-Lex
- European Commission, questions and answers on the tachograph provisions of the Mobility Package, among other things on the rollout calendar for version 2.
The regulation text is quoted verbatim from the consolidated English version on EUR-Lex, accessed 26 August 2026. The rollout dates come from the Commission's published materials; the regulation itself expresses those deadlines relative to the entry into force of the technical provisions.
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