Automatic Emergency Braking: Where Policy meets innovation

The era of accepting traffic accidents as inevitable is ending, with road safety becoming a growing priority. Leading this transformation is Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), a technology set to become required in the United States on all new passenger cars and light trucks starting in September 2029. 

But as we move closer to a future with fewer accidents, it’s advancements in technology, not just policy, that will ultimately take us there. In this blog, we’ll explore why AEB is redefining road safety and what it takes to deliver this life-saving innovation. 

Why AEB is vital now

In 2022, the U.S. saw its highest pedestrian fatality rate in 40 years, a stark reminder of the New Projection: U.S. Pedestrian Fatalities Reach Highest Level in 40 Years | GHSA persistent dangers on the road. Several factors contribute to this issue, including increased traffic, larger vehicle sizes (with more SUVs and pickup trucks), and smartphone distractions. In fact, a survey of 3 million motorists found that almost 9 out of 10 drivers admitted to using their smartphones while behind the wheel.  

To combat the rise in pedestrian-related accidents, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) finalized a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS No. 127). This regulation mandates that Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB), including pedestrian-specific AEB, be a standard feature in all passenger cars and light trucks registered after September 2029. While other policymakers, such as the General Safety Regulation in Europe, typically allow for a grace period during transitions, NHTSA set a clear compliance deadline, encouraging automakers to plan accordingly.  

According to NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman, they are “requiring these systems to be even more effective at higher speeds and to detect pedestrians.” Under the updated regulations for Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) systems, all new cars and light trucks must include AEB technology capable of preventing collisions at speeds of up to 62 mph and detecting pedestrians in both daylight and nighttime conditions.  

The policy’s goal is to is to significantly reduce accidents and enhance vehicle safety by ensuring that cars are equipped with technology capable of detecting and preventing collisions with both pedestrians and vehicles, ultimately contributing to safer streets for everyone.  This technology has proven to bring significant impact to the road. According to a report from the Partnership for Analytics Research in Traffic Safety (PARTS), Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are improving and responsible for a sharp drop in rear-end vehicle-to-vehicle crashes, the research found “a 49% reduction in front-to-rear crashes for vehicles equipped with one ADAS feature in particular, automatic emergency braking, or AEB, across all vehicle segments and model years.”   

AEB is uniquely positioned to tackle these challenges. By intervening when drivers are distracted, slow to react, or unable to respond in time, AEB can significantly reduce the risk of fatal collisions. According to NHTSA, integrating AEB with pedestrian detection could potentially “prevent at least 24,000 injuries annually”. 

Raising the bar with Mobileye  

While regulators and the various bodies push forward laws and safety initiatives, it’s the underlying technology that has the power to truly deliver the results. Fortunately, Mobileye’s decade-long deployment of AEB systems on the road has provided an extensive dataset. Having Mobileye systems integrated into hundreds of models on the road today, we were able to utilize extensive real-life data amounting to roughly 200,000 hours of real-world driving (with a distance over 11 million km) thus allowing us to fine tune our technology. 

We analyzed AEB responses across a wide range of scenarios, in cities and towns in the United States, Europe, and Asia, as well as various lighting conditions—daylight, dawn, dusk, twilight, and nighttime. The rigorous validation process yielded positive results overall, with both very low false negative and false positive activation.  

The success of this technology is fundamental to the successful implementation of the updated AEB mandate, allowing the system to be more effective under more challenging driving conditions. 

Achieving accuracy in AEB 

A recent real-world example is Mobileye’s AEB system in India where driving requires constant adaptability. Drivers skillfully navigate dense traffic, constantly adjusting to the flow of vehicles, pedestrians, animals and unexpected obstacles (such as barricades). It might look chaotic, but it operated as a highly efficient system, keeping things moving in busy, crowded streets.  

In this setting, the activation rates of safety systems showed a more “localized” response, with AEB activations considering car proximity and even demonstrating heightened cow detection, a common obstacle, throughout the streets in India. This example demonstrates that current AEB systems perform well in specific environments and highlights the importance of testing data from diverse regions to ensure robust performance worldwide. 

Enhanced ADAS for a safer future  

The entire industry is making significant strides toward a future where mobility is safer and more efficient. With technology serving as the backbone of true advancement, Mobileye’s AEB systems are well-positioned to lead the way in driving assist features and meet evolving requirements. These ongoing efforts focus on enhancing the effectiveness of AEB systems to protect both drivers and pedestrians, advancing the future of road safety.