Effectiveness of Low Speed Autonomous Emergency Braking

13 May 2015

A report from Euro NCAP and ANCAP, the independent safety bodies for Europe and Australasia, today announced that low speed AEB technology leads to a 38% reduction in real-world rear-end crashes and that there is no significant difference between urban and rural crash benefits.

The publication in the online edition of the journal ‘Accident Analysis & Prevention’ which pools real-world data from five European countries as well as Australia – concludes that low speed AEB technology needs widespread fitment for maximum benefits. Autonomous Emergency Braking is one of the more promising safety technologies becoming increasingly common on modern passenger cars. The low speed option normally consists of an automatic brake function that operates effectively at speeds up to 50km/h.
 

The publication reported:
- that Low Speed AEB technology leads to a 38% reduction in real-world rear-end crashes;
- that there is no significant difference between urban and rural crash benefits;
- that Meta-analysis is an effective method for combining data from various countries.
The publication concluded that Low Speed AEB technology needs widespread fitment for maximum benefits.

Autonomous Emergency Braking is one of the more promising safety technologies that is becoming increasingly common on modern passenger cars. The low speed option normally consists of an automatic brake function that operates for speeds up to 30km/h or 50km/h. 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.
Real-world evaluations of 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 plus 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 percent 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 (≤60km/h) and rural (>60km/h) speed zones.

To download the publication, please follow this link.