BRUSSELS: The independent new car assessment programme safety bodies for Europe (Euro NCAP) and Australasia (ANCAP) have begun emphasising the effectiveness of low speed autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems.
In their publication, they reported that the low speed AEB technology leads to a 38% reduction in real world rear-end crashes and that there are no significant differences between urban and rural crash benefits.
It was concluded that low speed AEB technology should see widespread fitment in order to realise maximum benefits.
AEB is one of many safety technologies that have become increasingly common in passenger vehicles.
Such technology normally consists of an automatic brake function that operates from 30 to 50kph.
Previous studies have predicted significant expected benefits of AEB technology in low speed rear-end crashes but, so far, there has been little evidence that they really work.
It has been found that advanced safety systems are often limited by slow take-up rates, insufficient crash data and lower crash rates of new, safer vehicles.
Euro NCAP, with support of ANCAP, has initiated the ‘Validating Vehicle Safety through Meta-Analysis’ (VVSMA) group that brings together experts from governments, industry, consumer and insurance organisations.
The group pooled data from five European countries including Australia using a standard analysis format and a novel prospective meta-analysis approach.
Induced exposure methods were adopted to control for any extraneous effects.
The findings showed a 38% overall reduction in real world, rear-end crashes for vehicles fitted with low speed AEB compared to a sample of equivalent vehicles with no AEB.
There was no statistical difference found between urban (up to 60kph) and rural (60km/h and above) speed zones.
“Low speed AEB is potentially an important active safety technology and widespread fitment through the vehicle fleet should be encouraged in the interest of improved vehicle safety,” said Swedish Transport Administration group chairman Dr Anders Lie.
“These findings strongly support our decision to make AEB technology a key discriminator in the safety rating of new vehicles,” said Euro NCAP secretary general Dr Michiel van Ratingen.
