ABS – Anti-lock Braking System – was for many years the biggest advance in performance and safety when it came to a car’s braking system, protecting drivers during emergencies and also helping to stabilise vehicles when they corner. Now, the new acronym to embrace is AEB – Autonomous Emergency Braking – which is set to revolutionise car safety and how we drive.
What is AEB and how does it work?
The concept is simple explains Show Plates Express, a leader in custom number plates. AEB is an inbuilt safety system which monitors the traffic and road conditions through sensors on the vehicle, intervening when it perceives that a situation is dangerous and a collision might occur. The driver first receives a warning and then the brakes are applied if the driver fails to respond within the ‘reaction window’. A collision can be much reduced because the brakes are applied or, even avoided altogether.
The technology that is used is the same across the board; Lidar – Light detection and radar – or camera sensors or a mixture of the two. These provide information which is applied to the car’s current speed and direction so that the AEB system can form a judgement about whether the situation is safe or potentially dangerous. In the latter scenario, a warning is issued and then the brakes are applied if the driver fails to respond.
The technology whilst universal is applied differently to different makes and models and because it is still in its infancy, it may be more developed by some manufacturers than others. So, don’t assume therefore it is the same on every vehicle as some cars can be more sophisticated than others.
What is the force of the braking impact?
AEB is able to figure out the amount of force need to stop the car safely and will only apply the necessary intervention. The judgement is based on the amount of information that the car’s system has processed and assessed on current speed, trajectory and the imminency of the impact. The braking impact should be commensurate with the potential risk and danger of the immediate situation.
The differences in AEB systems
Different motor manufacturers employ the technology in different ways. The main variations tend to focus on the speed involved and the type of hazards the particular system can identify. Some AEB systems target more low-speed collisions in urban areas whilst others can comprehend and process multi-lane driving such as motorway situations or rural roads which are the most hazardous of all. The technology is continually evolving however and will eventually reach a point where it is universally applied to all types and makes of car rather than just high-end or premium vehicles and, across all types of traffic conditions.
A safety revolution
Reducing impact speeds or avoiding accidents altogether is a complete game-changer in motoring safety. The European New Car Assessment Programme or EuroNCAP combined with data from the Australasian NCAP programme found that AEB gave a 38% reduction in rear-end crashes across the world. Rather than making cars safer in the event of an accident which has been the focus for the motor manufacturing industry over decades, the difference with AEB is that it aims to stop the crash happening in the first place.
Thatcham Research established in 1969 and an industry group which aims to put safety at the heart of motoring has stated that AEB could be the biggest development in motoring safety since the advent of the seatbelt. Currently, around 20% of cars come with AEB fitted as standard and just over a quarter – 27% – offer AEB systems as optional extras for an additional charge. AEB often forms part of a safety bundle which the motorist can choose to add to the vehicle at purchase. Costs vary from as little as £200 to in excess of £1,000 for a more comprehensive safety upgrade.
Unsurprisingly, Volvo, that bastion of road safety, has made its City Safety AEB system standard on all new models since 2008 and reports that insurance claims for frontal collisions have reduced by 28%. The pressure is on now for other motor manufacturers as Euro NCAP have said they will no longer give a five-star safety rating to any car that does not have AEB so it is likely to become a universal feature across all makes and models in the not too distant future, a position supported by the European Parliament and Thatcham Research. AEB has been mandatory on HGVs since 2015.
The different names for AEB
AEB has many different guises so here are some of the names used by a few of the main motor manufacturers:-
- BMW – Driving Assistant, Driving Assistant Plus or Active Guard
- Citroen – Active City Brake
- Fiat – City Brake Control or just Brake Control
- Ford – Active City Stop or Pre Collision Assist or Active Braking
- Honda – Collision Mitigation Braking System or City Brake Active System
- Jaguar – Autonomous Emergency Braking
- Jeep – Forward Collision Warning Plus or Forward Collision Plus
- Land Rover – Autonomous Emergency Braking
- Mercedes – Collision Prevent Assist 3.0 or Distronic Plus
- Mini – Driving Assistant
- Nissan – Forward Emergency Braking
- Peugeot – Active City Brake or Emergency Collision Alert with Emergency Braking
- Renault – Active Emergency Braking
- Skoda – City Safe Drive or Front Assist
- Subaru – Eyesight
- Tesla – Automatic Emergency Braking
- Toyota – Pre-Crash System
- Vauxhall – Forward Collision Warning with Automatic Brake Intervention
- Volkswagen – Front Assist Including City Emergency Braking or City Emergency Braking
The clue is in the name as many of these systems are currently focused on city driving and urban situations where there is probably a higher concentration of pedestrians and other dangers. It is also probably easier initially to intervene with a car travelling at lower speeds than higher ones and also recognise standard hazards of pedestrians and cyclists compared to the more random nature of incidents which can occur on rural roads.
Tesla has already demonstrated the impact of its emergency braking systems preventing injury to two families who narrowly avoided having their car struck by an oak tree during Storm Dennis. Rather strangely, both families involved in the incident with the same tree were driving in opposite directions and both were driving Teslas.
