As reported in this recent article on the MSN News website, experts at Thatcham Research Centre have begun their Stop the Crash campaign to lobby the Treasury to fund a £500 incentive for drivers choosing to buy a new car with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) systems fitted.
So why is this?
Thatcham says that its extensive research illustrates that 90% of traffic collisions are caused by human error or from drivers being distracted. The average total cost of each injury-causing crash is £90,000.
A representative for Thatcham says that as little as 23% of new cars currently on sale are available with the AEB as either as an option or as standard, and fewer than 10 models available have AEB on their lists of specifications.
Thatcham went on to say that electronic safety technology has been a ‘major factor’ in reducing the number of annual deaths caused occur on the country’s roads, from 7000 back in the 1970s, to 1754 in 2012.
It is made all the more impressive when considering that there are far more cars on the roads now than there were 40 years ago.
Thatcham’s campaign is backed by the Automobile Association (AA), whose President, Edmund King, agrees that manufacturers must encourage those buying new cars ‘to specify AEB’ when making a choice.
Concerns
“While it is undoubtedly true that technology such airbags, anti-lock braking (ABS) and cruise control have literally been life-savers for many drivers, the main concern with technology is that almost always something goes wrong in some way.” – Stephen Jury, Motors.co.uk
Indeed, whether it is windscreen wipers that suddenly turn themselves on, brake-failure or failure of a car’s central-locking system, the fact is that when such things go wrong can be dangerous.
The job of an autonomous braking system is to engage the brakes at a vehicle’s full capacity when it senses an imminent emergency. It could surely actually cause an accident if it were malfunctioning and wrongly ‘detected’ an oncoming collision.
In addition, the autonomy of the technology raises a few legal questions: what would happen in the event that the AEB caused an accident? Would the driver be held accountable? The same questions may be asked of other autonomous technology such as self-parking.
