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I read the story on the BBC too and I'm thinking the headlines a bit misleading (possibly deliberately). Both articles do state that the driver can override the systems temporarily by pushing the accelerator or can be totally disabled for the duration of the trip. So it's not so much a speed limiter as a strong suggestion to stay within the speed limit. The key for me is that the data will be recorded and, as the driver has to make a conscious decision to disable the system, should an accident occur there is less recourse to the "momentary lapse of attention" defence that plays so well in court.
middleofnowhere
It's an interesting proposal but, in reality, will fail miserably.
My car has road sign speed limit detection and i'd say it's around 40% accurate and is completely screwed by roadwork sections, busy town centres (arguably where speed limiting would be most successful) and long sections with no signs.
Implementing a GPS solution wouldn't work in cities and manufacturers would be less than keen to be on the hook for making sure their navigation systems were up to date with speed limit changes etc.
Also, whilst speeding is definitely a cause of accidents and road fatalities (i still do it on motorways all the time...) being able to be slightly faster than other traffic is a safety feature when merging, overtaking etc. For my police bike safe course, i was encouraged to use the power of my motorbike to make overtakes quick and safe. If that means doing 10mph over the limit to get past another vehicle, that's fine.
It's also likely that this would tank the new car market (in the short term at least) as people avoid cars with the feature.
I'd rather see the industry focus on automatic collision avoidance and autonomous driving features, where possible, rather than limiting the speed that people can drive at.