EU Will Require Autonomous Braking on New Cars

[M II A II R II K]

EU Will Require Autonomous Braking on New Cars


August 3, 2012

By Alexander George

Read More: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2012/08...s-braking-law/

New European regulations have passed that will require new cars to have autonomous emergency braking (AEB). From 2014 onward, the Euro NCAP will include AEB in its assessment of new cars, which will make it impossible for any model without the tech to achieve a five-star safety rating. Philippe Jean of the European Commission said that all commercial vehicles will need to be fitted with the technology by November next year.

AEB uses radar, laser, or video to sense an impending collision. The software then primes the brakes, or applies them if the situation is too far gone. The hope is that the safety tech will be particularly effective with front-end impacts, such as in heavy traffic. Besides stopping rear-ending crashes that clog up freeways, the required systems will also sense pedestrians in the roadway and apply the brakes before impact. The European Comission carried out a study that found vehicles fitted with this technology reduced traffic accidents by 27 percent, which translates to 8,000 deaths prevented and between £3.9 ($6.05) billion and £6.3 ($9.7) billion saved each year.

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[ardecila]

Cool. It's this kind of thing that automakers should be focusing on. Safety technology so far has mostly concerned itself with protecting the driver/passengers, so I'm glad that this new technology can help prevent asymmetric crashes between cars and pedestrians/cyclists, protecting those groups from shitty drivers. Unfortunately, nobody's gonna pay extra for this, so a mandate is really the only way to get drivers to adopt it.

[Beta_Magellan]

I’m not sure if nobody would buy something like this—it’s already a feature on some high-end models and I’ve seen such systems used as selling points. It definitely costs more to implement, though I’m sure the EU carried out a CBA on this and found the extra cost/car to be worth the extra money.

Has anyone driven a car with something like this? I’m curious how it changes driving habits—my first guess is that people would drive somewhat more recklessly, speeding and assuming the car will always press the brakes forward—this is pretty much classic risk compensation, where people assume a new safety feature means they can drive less carefully. On the other hand, having the breaks come on automatically might be a nuisance, and people might drive more cautiously so they can feel like they remain in control.

I’ll add in a curmudgeonly “cars should have less gadgets and people should enjoy working the machine” note here, but I realize I’m very much in the minority about this (and the fact that I don’t have to put up with the frustrations of big-city traffic every day probably warps my perspective on this than most).

[Rational Plan3]

Originally Posted by Beta_Magellan

I’m not sure if nobody would buy something like this—it’s already a feature on some high-end models and I’ve seen such systems used as selling points. It definitely costs more to implement, though I’m sure the EU carried out a CBA on this and found the extra cost/car to be worth the extra money.

Has anyone driven a car with something like this? I’m curious how it changes driving habits—my first guess is that people would drive somewhat more recklessly, speeding and assuming the car will always press the brakes forward—this is pretty much classic risk compensation, where people assume a new safety feature means they can drive less carefully. On the other hand, having the breaks come on automatically might be a nuisance, and people might drive more cautiously so they can feel like they remain in control.

I’ll add in a curmudgeonly “cars should have less gadgets and people should enjoy working the machine” note here, but I realize I’m very much in the minority about this (and the fact that I don’t have to put up with the frustrations of big-city traffic every day probably warps my perspective on this than most).

I've heard several stories of people used to this technology who then use an old car have often then crashed said car because they were used to the other car taking care of such things. Don't know if these stories have statistical validity though.