The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has unveiled new regulations requiring automatic emergency braking to come standard on all new passenger vehicles in the US. This rule is aimed at preventing rear-end and pedestrian collisions and reducing the number of annual traffic deaths, which currently stand at around 40,000. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has called this regulation the most significant safety rule in the past two decades and believes it will help address the ongoing crisis of roadway deaths.
While approximately 90% of new vehicles already have automatic braking standard under a voluntary agreement with automakers, the new regulations aim to set performance standards for these systems to ensure their effectiveness. The standards require vehicles to automatically stop and avoid hitting other vehicles or pedestrians, even at night. The regulation will require additional engineering to bolster software and potentially add hardware such as radar, but it won’t go into effect for more than five years, giving automakers time to adjust their systems.
The new rule mandates that all passenger vehicles weighing 10,000 pounds or less have forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, and pedestrian detection braking. Vehicles must stop and avoid hitting a vehicle in front of them at speeds up to 62 miles per hour and must apply the brakes automatically if a collision is imminent at speeds up to 90 mph. These systems also need to spot pedestrians during the day and night and must stop and avoid a pedestrian at various speeds based on their location and movement.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly 2.2 million rear-end crashes were reported in 2019, resulting in 1,798 fatalities and 574,000 injuries. Additionally, 6,272 pedestrians were killed in crashes, with the majority of incidents occurring at speeds above 25 mph. The agency believes that these new regulations will help reduce deaths, injuries, and property damage caused by these types of accidents. The agency will conduct random tests to ensure automakers are meeting the requirements outlined in the regulations.
Critics argue that the new standards should have come sooner and that the regulations should also include standards for spotting people riding bicycles or scooters. However, advocates for the new regulations believe that they will ensure that automatic emergency braking systems will work properly and protect consumers. While there may be some concerns regarding the implementation timeline and the types of sensors required to meet these standards, the overall goal is to improve the safety of passenger vehicles on the roads and prevent unnecessary accidents and fatalities.