IST Summary of FMCSA Study: Research and Testing to Accelerate Voluntary Adoption of Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) on Commercial Vehicles

Institute for Safer Trucking’s Summary of FMCSA Study:

Research and Testing to Accelerate Voluntary Adoption of Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) on Commercial Vehicles

Published May 2020 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)

Important Takeaways:

Fleets that use automatic emergency braking have found the frequency and severity of their crashes have decreased. Several studies included also corroborated the benefits of using AEB:

  • AEB could prevent 31–37 percent of heavy vehicle front-to-rear crashes, resulting in 26,000–31,000 fewer crashes, 2,000–3,000 fewer injuries, and 98–115 fewer fatalities.[1]

  • The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that large-truck AEB could prevent up to 11,499 crashes, 7,703 injury crashes, and 173 fatal crashes each year.[2]

  • Heavy vehicles with AEB were involved in 20.7 percent fewer front-to-rear crashes compared to heavy vehicles without AEB.[3]  

Widespread adoption of Automatic Emergency Braking has yet to occur despite increasing take rates. Estimated take rates (percentage equipped) of AEB on new class 8 trucks went from 1 percent in 2009 to 50 percent in 2017.[4]   

Major technological barriers exist for adoption of AEB in class 4-6 trucks because this technology generally relies on electronic stability control (ESC) to operate which is NOT standard on most medium-duty trucks. This barrier does not exist for class 7 and 8 trucks because ESC is standard on these large trucks (available as early as 2004) and was mandated for all new class 7 and 8 trucks several years ago (rule took effect in 2015).

Several actions can be taken to expedite voluntary AEB adoption on new vehicle purchases to increase the percentage of class 7 and 8 trucks equipped with AEB:

  • Develop and disseminate tools to help fleets understand AEB’s potential to reduce crash risks and associated liability,

  • Develop tools to help fleets understand the return on investment of equipping their trucks with AEB,

  • Create consensus-based standards for AEB functions and interface to improve consistency across an array of brands and number of generations that operate and look different,

  • Create training standards for the use of AEB so that drivers are more accepting of this technology and can drive with it effectively.

Link to FMCSA Report: https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/49335

References:

[1] Jermakian, J. S. “Crash Avoidance Potential of Four Large Truck Technologies.” Accident Analysis and Prevention 49: 338-346, 2012.

[2] Glassbrenner, D., Morgan, A., Kreeb, R., Svenson, A., Liddell, H., Barickman, F. “A Target, Population for Automatic Emergency Braking in Heavy Vehicles.” Report No. DOT HS 812 390. Washington, D.C.: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2017.

[3] Hickman, J. S., Guo, F., Camden, M. C., Medina, A., Hanowski, R. J., Mabry, E. “Onboard Safety System Effectiveness Evaluation Final Report.” Report No. FMCSA-RRT-12-012. Washington, D.C.: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 2013.

[4]Kevin Grove, Matthew Camden, Andrew Krum, and Richard Hanowski. “Research and Testing to Accelerate Voluntary Adoption of Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) on Commercial Vehicles.” Report No. FMCSA-RRT-18-013. Washington, D.C.: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 2020.

From ISTHarry Adlerautomatic emergency braking, truck crash, safer trucking, truck accident, truck safety, driver assistance technology