Britons issued urgent warning of speeding fines from unmarked cars set to operate in popular regions

The unmarked cars will begin operating next year across the popular tourist regions of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, and Occitanie.

The speed camera radar cars will come into effect in January after the French Government called on companies to provide technology to aid the scheme.

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The winning company will begin rolling out the new technology across France in early 2025, according to Connexion France.

This includes 126 private vehicles which are expected to be deployed across 31 departments in France.

The hidden speed camera cars are unmarked vehicles which have radars attached to them using infrared technology to see if a driver is speeding.

Similar technology has been used across the UK this year to catch drivers speeding, not wearing their seatbelts and even using their mobile phones.

The technology uses artificial intelligence to detect whether a driver is breaking the rules or not while travelling.

Currently, the AI technology is being trialled by 11 police forces around the UK including Durham, Greater Manchester Police, Humberside, Staffordshire, West Mercia, Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Norfolk, Thames Valley Police, Sussex and Warwickshire.

The cameras can capture an image of the vehicle from a shallow angle to help detect whether a driver is using a phone while behind the wheel.

In France, however, the unmarked cars used to catch out bad drivers will be smaller vehicle models like Peugeot, Renault, Dacia, Ford and Volkswagen.

As part of the trial, the hidden cars will reportedly be in operation seven days a week,including bank holidays.

Speed camera cars have been used in France since 2013 but from 2018 they were privatised with companies having to bid for the Government contract.

The unmarked cars were initially driven by two police officers but were taken over by private drivers to allow the police to target other issues.

The private cars were first rolled out in Normandy in 2018 before expanding to Brittany, Pays de la Loire, and Centre-Val de Loire in 2020.

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In 2021, the measure was extended to coverthe regions of Grand-Est, Hauts-de-France, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, and Nouvelle-Aquitaine.