Federal Safety Regulators to Recommend Automatic Emergency Braking

Federal safety regulators will include automatic emergency braking as a recommended auto safety technology beginning with 2018 model year vehicles when handing out safety ratings.

“We are adding automatic emergency braking features to the 5-star rating system because crash-avoidance technologies can save lives and should be widely accessible,” said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “AEB can substantially enhance safety, especially with the number of distracted drivers on the road,” he said, referring to automatic emergency braking.

Foxx oversees the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is the government’s top auto safety agency.

Automatic emergency braking is one of the many semi-autonomous systems gradually being introduced on select vehicles.

The technology gathers signals with radar and camera sensors to determine when brakes must be applied to avoid a crash, whether the driver recognizes the risk or not.

Specifically, the technology includes two systems — crash imminent braking, or CIB, which applies the brakes in cases where a rear-end crash is imminent and the driver isn’t taking any action to avoid the crash, and dynamic brake support, or DBS, which supplements the driver’s braking input if the driver isn’t applying sufficient braking to avoid a rear-end crash.

“We’re putting the brakes on rear-end crashes,” NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said in a statement. “Wherever possible, NHTSA will encourage and accelerate technological innovations that save lives.”

This article appeared in print on page 3 of the November 3rd, 2015 edition of Hamodia.