From 2014, it will be ‘practically impossible’ for new vehicles to receive a five star EuroNCAP rating if they are not fitted with an Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) system. The independent consumer organisation says that universal fitment could reduce the number of road accidents in Europe by 27%, saving around 8,000 lives a year and reducing the number of people seriously injured by around 4,000.
At a recent event in Brussels, EuroNCAP secretary general Michiel van Ratingen revealed that his organisation’s research has shown that 79% of European passenger cars are not currently available with any type of AEB. “We are beginning a journey that we hope will lead to 100% fitment,” he told just-auto. “We are giving vehicle manufacturers two to three years to put the technology on their cars if they want to continue winning five star ratings.”
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Autonomous Emergency Braking Systems help to avoid crashes or reduce their severity by warning the driver of an impending impact and supporting his braking response. The technology generally uses radar for long-range sensing and either vision sensors or lasers for short range sensing. Several vehicle manufacturers now have (or will shortly have) systems on the market but they don’t all work across the full speed range. Lower-cost vehicles typically avoid the expensive radar systems by offering only operation at city speeds, which represent a high proportion of relevant impacts.
EuroNCAP’s campaign will help consumers understand the differences between systems and recognise their benefits. “We would like all new cars to have systems that operate across the full speed range, but recognise that this will only be achieved when fitment rates are high to bring costs down,” commented Ratingen. “Today, we are delighted that that we are starting to see systems that are priced appropriately for their target markets with city systems available even on a few entry-level vehicles.”
Speaking at the event, the European Commission’s Head of Unit, Automotive Industry, Philippe Jean, said that autonomous braking systems have been identified as the single tool with the greatest potential to reduce injuries and deaths. “The predicted reduction in death and injuries compares favourably with electronic stability control, which prevents a similar number of serious injuries each year but prevents around 2,000 deaths, compared with 4,000 for AEB,” said Jean.
Jean also presented figures for the economic benefits of AEB. “It is not possible to produce a precise figure for the cost of all Europe’s road accidents, but we estimate that the cost of avoidable accidents that AEB will address is between EUR5bn and EUR8bn a year. The impact assessment studies we have carried out indicate that the resulting reduction in congestion due to accidents would represent an economic value of around EUR100m in Germany alone.”
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By GlobalDataFrom November 2013, the European Type Approval of new commercial vehicles will require AEB to be fitted. From November 2015, every new commercial vehicle sold must have the technology fitted. “We are considering extending these regulations to passenger cars,” Jean concluded.
The Brussels event last month was timed to celebrate EuroNCAP’s 15th year. The organisation’s evaluation programme and the information available to consumers on its website are widely credited with considerably accelerating the development of safer cars.
