
In 2018, all cars will incorporate the AEB technology as part of standard safety equipment.
As part of their initiative of reducing the number of casualties on the road, the NHTSA wants automatic braking for cars starting from 2018. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in collaboration with the US government urges car makers to equip all vehicles with an automatic braking system.
As part of the new five-star rating system, the US government wants to incorporate this new technology in order to ensure traffic safety on both roads and highways. It seems that almost 28 percent of road accidents happen because of rear-end collisions. The braking system is designed in order to help the driver prevent such an incident. Basically, the car warns the driver if a rear collision is imminent. If the driver doesn’t take any action, the braking system activates automatically.
According to the statistics released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, there are approximately 1.7 million rear-end collisions each year. Rear-end collisions accounts for more than 1000 deaths and 700000 injuries per year.
Technologies like AEB (automatic emergency braking) and ESC (electronic stability control) can help to reduce road crashes by 80 percent.
In 2014, the same NHTSA included the ESC technology mandatory for the 5-star-rating system. And, as of September, the agency managed to break a deal with 10 prestigious car makers. They have voluntarily agreed to incorporate the AEB technology in all of their future designs. The vehicle manufacturers disclosed no date or schedule as to when the technology will be part of standard car safety.
The AEB technology uses multiple proximity sensors in order to avoid collision scenarios. The most common proximity sensors employed in order to make this technology viable are the LIDAR, the radar and special cameras that have a software capable of analyzing images.
Numbers point out that vehicles using this kind of advanced safety technology could see a significant decrease in road accidents. Thus, low speed accidents are reduced by 20 percent and it seems that the system itself is capable of mitigating even more severe accidents.
NHTSA wants automatic braking for cars in order to reduce the number of fatal accidents attributed to rear-end or even frontal collisions. In the past, car producers incorporated many breakthroughs in care safety technology in their car design. Like the ABS or the ESC, very soon we will cars on the roads fitted with the new AEB system. This not only will label your car safe for driving but will become a criteria you will use in order to buy a car.
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