[ChiragM]

According to a media report, 40 countries, including those in the EU and Japan, have agreed to make Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) standard in all new cars and light commercial vehicles.



The report suggests that the new regulations could come as early as next year and will be mandatory on all new cars sold. Existing owners are not expected to retrofit their cars with the system. The new system will work only at speeds up to 60 km/h.

However, countries like China, India and the US, who are members of the U.N. forum, did not participate in the negotiations and are hence not making AEB as standard in cars. It is reported that they did not take part to give their national regulations precedence over the U.N. regulations. In 2016, 20 car manufacturers reached an agreement with the US government to make the tech standard across their range.

The AEB system uses radars, lasers and cameras to gauge the distance to objects like other cars or pedestrians. If the car senses an imminent collision and there is no response from the driver, it automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision.

Source: Jalopnik

Link to Team-BHP News

[V.Narayan]

This is a step in the right direction and I hope over time it becomes standard in all countries. On my Volvo XC60 this feature has activated several times and is very useful in unruly traffic moving at slow to moderate speeds with brave nuts cutting lanes suddenly or three-wheelers making surprise turns or two-wheelers trying to overtake with too little space and mis-judging the gap and the rate at which it is closing. This does not replace the human driver but serves as a quick reaction aid.

[sushantr5]

When this feature becomes mandatory and these cars have to share road initially with cars which are not equipped with this feature, then there may be some situations where automatic braking kicks in for the slightest hint of collision and tailgating non equipped car will have tough time to react equally.

And, these feature should be tried and tested properly otherwise it may cause lot of accidents. Just to tell, my friends i30 stopped on German Autobahn couple of times. It came to dead stop on Autobahn. You can imagine the situation, thankfully nobody was tailgating him and traffic was sparse for both occasions.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by sushantr5

When this feature becomes mandatory and these cars have to share road initially with cars which are not equipped with this feature, then there may be some situations where automatic braking kicks in for the slightest hint of collision and tailgating non equipped car will have tough time to react equally.

Your point is valid. Nevertheless I would rather be saved from hitting a stupid two wheeler rider who cuts me carelessly and have the car behind hit me than knock that rider down and get into trouble myself and maybe have worse in store for the rider.

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Can it be turned on/off? Would be good if the system can be switched off when the driver thinks he/she would be a better judge of the road/traffic conditions. Atleast there would be many such situations in countries like India.

[GTO]

Can think of a recent situation where this would have avoided a disaster - link.

On a serious note, I'm all for it. It's easy for any system to know when you are going to be able to brake in time and when you aren't. For India, as FrodoOfTheShire said, there should be a way to disable it. Say, when driving through a crowded market-place. However, just like most idling start-stop systems, it should enable itself automatically each time that the car is restarted.

Might need a lot of tweaking for India, yet definitely more doable than the other autonomous driving technologies.

[blackwasp]

Will this spell the doom for manual transmission cars? AFAIK very few (= almost none) cars offer AEB on the stick shift variants. A quick google search revealed that only a couple of years old (2017 model year) BMW M3/M4 and the Mazda 3 offered AEB + manual transmission. In this case, the engine would stall on coming to a halt unless the driver pressed the clutch pedal.

As it is, even in India, the preference of the average buyer is slowing moving towards AT. I'm guessing that with such norms coming in, manufacturers will get one more excuse to get rid of the 3-pedal setup. Already the premium cars no longer offer MT variants.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by ChiragM

However, countries like China, India and the US, who are members of the U.N. forum, did not participate in the negotiations and are hence not making AEB as standard in cars.

Oh, nice! We're not getting AEB anytime soon! But...

...that doesn’t mean the U.S. isn’t getting standard-AEB; back in 2016, 20 automakers in the U.S. announced that they’d voluntarily make the tech standard across their ranges by September 1, 2022. Those automakers, whose cars represent 99 percent of the U.S. market according to IIHS, 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.”

Does any member on this forum drive an AEB equipped car in India?

I'm wondering how the sales people in our car showrooms would sell this!? Saar aap mobile pe bindaas baat karo. Gaadi zaroorat padhte hi apne-aap brake laga legi. (Sir, you can talk on your mobile without worries while driving. The car will stop on its own if required.)

If AEB were to be introduced in India, the Accidents in India thread on Team-BHP will start feeling neglected!

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Does any member on this forum drive an AEB equipped car in India?

Yes, mentioned right here on this thread.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

This is a step in the right direction and I hope over time it becomes standard in all countries. On my Volvo XC60 this feature has activated several times and is very useful in unruly traffic moving at slow to moderate speeds with brave nuts cutting lanes suddenly or three-wheelers making surprise turns or two-wheelers trying to overtake with too little space and mis-judging the gap and the rate at which it is closing. This does not replace the human driver but serves as a quick reaction aid.

[nakul0888]

Just another unnecessary govt intervention is what I think of this. All mandates like these are going to do is make cars unnecessarily expensive and limit choices for the poor and lower middle class who are on a budget and looking to buy new cars. Regardless of all this it isn’t the bureaucracy that makes cars better safer and more efficient. It’s competition. Abs, airbags, three point seatbelt, crumplezones, stability control and all the rest came from the private sector following its own interest of serving their customers and many of these high end features trickled down into cheaper models all on their own without a govt mandate. And that’s how it should be done.

[AccordSport]

Originally Posted by nakul0888

Just another unnecessary govt intervention is what I think of this. All mandates like these are going to do is make cars unnecessarily expensive and limit choices for the poor and lower middle class who are on a budget and looking to buy new cars. Regardless of all this it isn’t the bureaucracy that makes cars better safer and more efficient. It’s competition. Abs, airbags, three point seatbelt, crumplezones, stability control and all the rest came from the private sector following its own interest of serving their customers and many of these high end features trickled down into cheaper models all on their own without a govt mandate. And that’s how it should be done.

On the contrary, only when these features are mandated they come to mass market cars and become cheaper over time. Few years back ABS was not even there in Top versions. Now with govt mandate coming up, everyone is offering it. In this sense it is good for the customer.

[extreme_torque]

Such a system would be of little use in India where both the pedestrian traffic and the car traffic is kind of random. The system is pretty simple in the sense that it has no AI built in it and so cannot change its behaviour in real time by learning the prevalent condition. The system basically works off the adaptive cruise radar sensor and camera and takes into account the speed of the car and the distance and perhaps braking pressure.

I have the system in my Infiniti Q50 along with front collision warning and mitigation and it has saved me a couple of times when I wasnt paying enough attention.

[nakul0888]

Originally Posted by AccordSport

On the contrary, only when these features are mandated they come to mass market cars and become cheaper over time. Few years back ABS was not even there in Top versions. Now with govt mandate coming up, everyone is offering it. In this sense it is good for the customer.

Well then the latest Audi A8 has air suspension that can sense oncoming collision and can brace itself for impact by jacking up one end of the car just before the hit. Should we just mandate that every car sold in India should have the same for the good of the customer ? You think this would make this option instantly cheaper and available in all the mass market cars? And by the way I was somebody who was car hunting just before the abs mandate rule. All cars from i10 segment and upwards had abs and airbags at top end variant , a good number had both in the mid variants as well . The 3rd gen Honda city E had airbags and abs even though it didn’t have stereo. Besides it’s not like now because of the rule people are getting abs free of cost. They re paying for it. Almost all cars in all segments are noticeably more expensive. I know inflation plays a major role in this. Well we know who’s responsible for that now don’t we? But I’m sure govt mandates ain’t helping much either.

[AccordSport]

3 years ago when I was in the market for a car in US I bought an Accord. Back then Honda sensing package was 1000$ Option which included Lane keep assist, Adaptive Cruise, Blind spot assist and Auto Emergency braking. Since I was new to US, I was looking to save that 1k and didnot opt for it. Looking back now I curse myself for not opting it.
Today all new Toyotas and Hondas except the base version come with these features by default.
So from my personal experience I think these advancements in safety need some to be mandated as and when it is feasible so that it helps uninformed buyers like me.

Originally Posted by nakul0888

Well then the latest Audi A8 has air suspension that can sense oncoming collision and can brace itself for impact by jacking up one end of the car just before the hit. Should we just mandate that every car sold in India

I agree to your point that some high end features like this can be as costly as the car itself in India.
But the ones like automatic emergency braking could stop lot of pedestrian and 2 wheeler casualities which is a major cause of the road fatalities India. So if we can move forward with steps that can help the overall community, whenever it is feasible, it should be mandated.
My point is if it is not a law we don’t follow it. Same goes for emissions and overall quality of the car as well.
Why is no manufacturer intrested in bring hybrids to India? Simply there is no push/support from the government.

[DWind]

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Such a system would be of little use in India where both the pedestrian traffic and the car traffic is kind of random. The system is pretty simple in the sense that it has no AI built in it and so cannot change its behaviour in real time by learning the prevalent condition.

Lets hope the mandate to make it standard makes sure the technology matures as I have driven various cars (or purposefully tested this) with various rental cars by seeing how soon emergency braking kick-in and seen some brands (Cadillac / Infinity) have more acceptable (read slightly early) times while Mazda (CX5) was more heart-in mouth. And then there was a case of Maserati (or was it Alfa Romeo?) which considered water in a flooded street in Houston as obstacle and not allowing driver to safely negotiate the water.