Sept. 14, 2015—In one of the nation’s biggest auto safety announcements, a group of major automakers will make automatic emergency braking standard on new U.S. vehicles, according to a report by Reuters.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) said in a statement on Friday that the automakers will work on an implementation plan with auto safety regulators and experts.
The participating automakers are Volkswagen and its luxury car division Audi, BMW, Ford Motor, General Motors, Mazda, Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz, Tesla Motors, Toyota and Volvo, which makes up 57 percent of car and light truck sales in the U.S.
"We are entering a new era of vehicle safety, focused on preventing crashes from ever occurring, rather than just protecting occupants when crashes begin," said Anthony Foxx, U.S. transportation secretary in the IIHS statement. "But if technologies such as automatic emergency braking are only available as options, or on the most expensive models, too few Americans will see the benefits.”
Automatic emergency braking, or AEB, is a life-saving technology that uses radar, cameras and lasers to monitor road conditions and apply brakes autonomously to avoid possible collision.
Analysts say it could take several years for automakers to redesign the electrical and braking systems of their cars to install autonomous braking, according to Reuters.
