Feds Mandate Automated Emergency Braking by 2029

Or we just let the idiots take care of themselves through natural selection instead of being forced to accept their mediocrity.

 

When this feature came out everyone was crazy about it and just said “wow”. I never had any problems with it and it’s definitely not a new technology. Maybe for you or for Toyota but not for other brands.

In December 1996 BAS premiered to the world on the Mercedes-Benz S-Class and SL-Class. In 1998 Mercedes-Benz became the first company to make Brake Assist standard equipment on all its models; other brands including Volvo and BMW soon followed suit.
In 2005, radar technology was used to enhance the brake assist system by making it anticipatory. Just one year later, experts combined the further developed DISTRONIC PLUS distance control system and BAS PLUS Brake Assist to create PRE-SAFE® Brake with autonomous partial braking. The important pedestrian detection feature was added in 2013, and first introduced in the E-Class (W212).

 

Except that they might take us out along the way... and even if they dont WE end up paying for their idiocy in our auto and medical insurance premiums.

 

They are not going to go out in vaccume. They would take a few off us along with them due to their idiocy, if not fatally then alteast financially.

 

It’s simple to write off folks as idiots but humans are always going to be messy in some way, some moment.

Failure of radar cruise and subsequent crashing would be headline/reporter bait and we’d see much more articles than we see today if that were the case. (heck, see the Toyota unintended acceleration issue)

Closest so far is the investigation into Honda’s potential phantom braking concern, which is the opposite.

Tesla Autopilot (not an emergency braking system) is being/has been investigated (which I still think they should go after them for false advertising a half-baked product) and I’d say is regarded as the most reckless vehicle driving assist out there.

but I would say most rear-ends out there would be in vehicles without any pre-collision/emergency braking. That isn’t to say that PCS/AEB would prevent all of them, they are a damage control feature after all. Distracted driving is the top cause and this is the best band-aid.

I’d sure love if everyone knew how to use their lights but it’s sure easier to have them default to auto.

Also note that radar cruise and auto emergency braking systems are separate features. I believe you can find the safety feature without cruise. I think you’ll find most radar cruise/lane-keep systems are more conservative and err on the side of requiring human intervention as well.

 

It is A LOT more complicated than that. Just like we don't typically see timely exposes on pharmaceutical industry issues (because they spend so much money on advertising) you are not likely to see such story about automotive issues. Unless it is negative coverage of Tesla, because Elon "stole" their Twitter.

 

Not unreasonable but American drivers would love to shift the blame to an outside responsible party given the chance and throw a ruckus. Event Data Recorder logs would corroborate if equipped. (ACC would also need to be used and cruise is typically used for long-distance trip but that I'm just speculating.)

This is also goalpost-move-y since these two just occurred to me but in pretty much any non-"Autopilot" system you still have to be engaged watching and also steer. They're designed conservatively and beep/alert/require driver intervention when in doubt.

I haven't found statistics on rear-end collisions year-over-year but if it's gone up as claimed I bet it tracks smartphone adoption (late-00's) much more than adaptive cruise control (ACC) adoption which trails it by probably a decade. (Been around in high end luxury cars before becoming a rare, pricey option on say, the mid-2010's Prius and becoming much more accessible by the 2018MY.)

Tesla articles get clicks, is high-profile and is easy considering the engineering oversights over the years. Defying convention works in many cases but there's also good reasons why some things are done they way they are. Musk being an erratic, petty celebrity just adds fuel to that fire.