Transportation officials and automakers say they’ve agreed to make automatic braking standard in almost all cars within six years – by 2022. The final agreement includes additional automakers and will be unveiled at a press conference in McLean, Va., at a press conference. Mark Rosekind, head of NHTSA, and representatives from several vehicle companies and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety are expected to attend, according to the safety agency.
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The participating automakers include Audi, BMW, FCA US LLC, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Tesla Motors Inc., Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo Car USA.
The manufacturers making this commitment tomorrow represent the vast majority of current USA vehicle sales.
It is nearly automatic that equipment added to vehicles in the USA market gets supplied on vehicles destined for sale in Canada as well since North America is a single market for vehicles with some exceptions such as speedometers.
“In 2012, one-third of all police-reported crashes involved a rear-end collision with another vehicle as the first harmful event in the crash”, according to the government’s information page on Automatic Emergency Braking systems.
The technology already is available as an option on many models.
“Do the math. That’s 5 million crashes every year – 20 percent reduction means 1 million less”.
Consumer Reports is now handing out extra rating points to those vehicles that have the safety technology.
Former NHTSA Administrator Joan Claybrook said the NHTSA should issue legally binding rules.
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The braking systems begin to bring to the public the life-saving features of autonomous cars, the self-driving vehicles now under such intense research by Google and other companies, Fisher said.
