Autonomous emergency braking mandatory in Europe by 2014

Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) is set to become mandatory as a result of new European regulations.

From 2014 Euro NCAP – the organization responsible for conducting independent assessment of vehicle safety performance – will amend its reports and no car will gain a five-star rating without AEB.

It's hoped an increased use of the system will cut down on front-end impacts as well as pedestrian injuries.

Philippe Jean of the European Commission has announced that all commercial vehicles must have fitted AEB by November 2013. Results from a European Commission study established that AEB-fitted vehicles cut down on cut down on traffic accidents by 27 per cent which converts to 8,000 deaths prevented and between $6.05bn (£3.9bn) and $9.7bn (£6.3bn) saved each year.

This is the latest step in the shift towards autonomous vehicles on our streets in the foreseeable future.

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By Rufus Thompson