Autonomous braking is a huge step, and, imho, more exciting at the moment than full autonomous driving because it can save lives right now, and is unlikely to take them (shots fired at Uber).
But buyer beware. Even within the IIHS safety standards, there is considerable variability. I love my Toyota Corolla (2017), but it's braking will only take a few mph off after warning you. I can't wait until my lease expires and I can upgrade to the Subaru (edit: or maybe the Volvo from TFA). Look up the videos, they are fully capable of stopping without any collision up to ~40 mph (disclaimer: never rely on these safety features, it's still your responsibility to be safe).
I've also read enough complaints about inexplicable emergency braking activation to say that all drivers should be aware these are on the road. You need to consider that now random new cars may execute a "brake check" maneuver in situations where you would never anticipate a human to have done the same thing.
I just bought a 2018 Subaru Impreza with Eyesight (their suite of ACC, braking, lane assist, etc). I was driving on the freeway into work less than a week after I bought the car and had someone pull out in front of me without signaling or slowing down. The car stopped itself before I had a chance to react and saved me from what could have been a really bad accident.
I was very happy with the system in my 2014 Cadillac ATS. When paired with the cruise control system, I could set cruise when I got on the highway, and the car would keep distance properly, including coming to a complete stop (and starting up again) for traffic jams.
I drove into a dust storm in Central Washington in a rental Volvo several years back and autobraking saved me from rear ending a car. I made it out, but a huge pileup ended up happening just behind me. https://www.kiro7.com/news/massive-crash-closes-eastbound-i-...
It's a weird piece. The describe the XC90 as the safest car they ever tested, and that it hadn't had a fatality since 2002. Then it attributes it to AEB.
The problem is that the XC90 got its AEB in 2015. This cannot be the reason for the impressive safety levels since 2002.
It's just physics. When large a object meets a small object then the large object wins because it has more energy and ends up pushing the small object backwards.
I recently bought a WV Atlas with adaptive cruise control and front assist. It also has a variety of other sensors and assists. It is no way an AV, but these features IMHO add a lot of value. If every car had them, I bet road safety would increase significantly. I agree with the article. I think it is a big deal.
> If every car had them, I bet road safety would increase significantly.
If you look into the data on fatal accidents and examine them even for a few minutes you'll easily see that this is a foolhardy bet. The causes of accidents and fatalities are highly variable and not what you would expect. There's also extreme variability between the individual states; for example, Texas has more _total_ fatalities than California. There's extreme variability between the sexes and for different age groups within those sexes. Finally, there are motorcycles.
AI/Driverless, AV and all the attendant sensors and inputs will have an impact, just not nearly as large of one as many people unfortunately expect.
I recently bought a T-Roc and ACC is pretty awesome. The issue I have is on the motorway, when changing lanes, it has a tendency to lose speed and with it being a 1 litre, it takes a while to build up the speed again.
It also has front sensors which has alerted and braked for me a couple of times when someone has almost stopped dead at 60MPH (even with stopping distance, it was a quick stop).
I'd like to see more variable brake lights to go with this:
i.e. a strip of light across the rear of the vehicle, that progressively lights up according to how hard the vehicle is braking (or anticipates braking, if it's autonomous).
Some cars have a flash-brake-lights-under-heavy-braking, but I think it would help traffic flow if you can more easily distinguish a touch of the brakes from a press of the brakes.
I've thought this would make sense too and I feel like I'm missing something as to why it hasn't been implemented. Complexity perhaps?
Interesting to note, though, that we do have weak forms of braking that don't light up the tail lights - heavy engine braking in the case of manual transmissions, lighter engine-braking for automatics, and in the case of electric vehicles (at least a Tesla in my experience) the lights don't kick on from regen unless it's passed a certain deceleration level.
I think some sort of variable lighting would be nifty, but in my book it's the wrong solution to what is really a problem of keeping distance. For highway driving the answer for me there has been adaptive cruise control – it's amazing! What I'm missing though is for a way to have the car keep distance, but still leave control over the gas to me. This would be very useful in high traffic situations where setting a cruise control speed isn't really usable, since you'll likely be disengaging it now and then due to braking because someone is cutting in.
I put a lot more faith in sensors to judge the distance to the car in front of me, than my visual perception of brake lights. At a certain medium distance, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to judge the difference between 25% brake and 75% anyway, but my car's sensors would be able to detect that I'm on a collision course, and could adjust gas/braking accordingly.
"Vision 2020 is about reducing the number of people that die or are seriously injured in road traffic accidents to zero. "[1]
As sceptical as I am about corporate statements, you can see that Volvo is steadily working on this. They don't do splashy announcements or announce revolutions in driving, and yet they bring more and more changes and improvements to their cars. From assisted braking to lane assist to blind spot information to city collision avoidance to many many other small and big improvements.
Anti-lock brakes never yielded the accident reduction expected, primarily because drivers used the improved braking performance to drive faster in poorer conditions.
I guess the AEB works at reducing accidents because it IS autonomous and does not "improve performance".
Another reason the XC90 has a great safety record is that it’s a 4500 pound car with a 4 cylinder engine. This isn’t safety enhancing in itself but does ensure that it is only bought by people with the most sedate driving habits.
I was wondering about the AEB when the Uber accident happened. It should’ve been equipped with AEB but it still hit a pedestrian. Did they just pull out the whole software and replace it with their own navigation logic?
Yes, that was something that was mentioned before by Volvo. Uber disabled the AEB that came with the vehicle and according to Volvo it likely would have detected the pedestrian.
The skeptic in me thinks that this story is Volvo trying to counter the bad news of their car killing a pedestrian with good news of how many drivers haven't died.
Although it's not their fault for the crash, celebrating the safety of an SUV, when it's size and extra weight means that crashes with pedestrians will more likely end in death, seems odd.
The BBC story, also reported in multiple other places, is a nice bit of Volvo marketing g, but is nonsense.
Volvo introduced Aeb in 2007 on the XC60. The XC90 only got it when they introduced the new generation a few years ago. Therefore claiming that the exceptional safety record of the XC90 is in any way related to AEB is just rubbish.
The reason why XC90s are associated with so few passenger injuries (note, no claims are made for injuries to other road users by XC90s) is that they are large, heavy and chosen by safsr-than-average demographics.
> Air bags have saved more lives than safety belts, haven't they
Not by a long shot - seat belts reduce the chance of death by 60-70% across all crashes. Airbags reduce the chance of death by 15% in frontal collisions, and very little for other types[1]. The airbag isn’t going to much good if you’ve been ejected from the car.
Airbags also have the misfortune of having killed more people than safety belts. Especially kids. Or people leaning forward.
That’s why modern cars try to avoid firing them unless absolutely necessary. You can get into a pretty serious crash and they won’t fire if the computer decides its better to let you gently tap the steering wheel than to run an expkosion into your face.
> Air bags have saved more lives than safety belts, haven't they?
That depends on how you count: no life saved by an airbag would be saved without airbag AND safety belt. An airbag alone saves no lives.
And I still doubt the airbag+belt combination made a bigger dent in the statistic than the introduction of the safety belt did (Although it's hard to compare due to completely different time periods)
This feature is also available in "cheaper" cars. My Kia Niro has is, and although I didn't get a chance to make "full" use of this (thankfully), I did incur the "too close" beep which prompted me to break one time I was not paying the road the attention it deserved. As a side note, with auto distance keeping cruise control, lane assist that actually moves the wheel to keep me in lane, side radar that alerts if a car is coming as I try to switch lanes and the AEB, this is great entry into autonomous driving (as far as some core systems that are actually in commercial use already).
I had this engage in my car once. It was the first time I was driving with glasses on - I must have misjudged the distance between me and the next car. Scared me, but not as much as the guy following me a little too closely in his E46.
It does beep randomly sometimes - usually in heavy rain. But that one time it turned on pretty late, so it's a good last resort.
I think this is a combination of great safety equipment, the safeness of the car itself (crash tests and so on) and the people who buys it. Its not the most hardcore drivers who buys a Volvo, even tho the 2017 and newer models are really good looking. Volvo has always been a pioneer in security as well
My relative owns one. The Adaptive cruise control only picks up moving cars in front of you and tries to kill you when there’s a stopped car in front of you, say at a red traffic light. I’ve never been brave (or stupid) enough to see whether the AEB would counter that especially in marginal road conditions.
Anybody know how well these handle water? I imagine a situation after/during heavy rain with giant puddles of water. A car in the lane next to me hits a puddle at high speed throwing a lot of water in the air in front of my car. Does the car slam on its breaks?
Isn't autonomous braking standard in most new premium-ish cars? My not-so-premium VW has it. Any car that has a distance-sensing cruise control should have it.
[+] [-] nxc18|8 years ago|reply
But buyer beware. Even within the IIHS safety standards, there is considerable variability. I love my Toyota Corolla (2017), but it's braking will only take a few mph off after warning you. I can't wait until my lease expires and I can upgrade to the Subaru (edit: or maybe the Volvo from TFA). Look up the videos, they are fully capable of stopping without any collision up to ~40 mph (disclaimer: never rely on these safety features, it's still your responsibility to be safe).
Do your research, happy and safe driving!
[+] [-] saltcured|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] finaliteration|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] martinwww|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] berbec|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] boxcardavin|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jakobegger|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oldgradstudent|8 years ago|reply
The problem is that the XC90 got its AEB in 2015. This cannot be the reason for the impressive safety levels since 2002.
[+] [-] Sammi|8 years ago|reply
https://www.edmunds.com/car-safety/are-smaller-cars-as-safe-...
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/413018/laws-of-physics-pe...
It's just physics. When large a object meets a small object then the large object wins because it has more energy and ends up pushing the small object backwards.
[+] [-] gideonparanoid|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] matt_the_bass|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] akira2501|8 years ago|reply
If you look into the data on fatal accidents and examine them even for a few minutes you'll easily see that this is a foolhardy bet. The causes of accidents and fatalities are highly variable and not what you would expect. There's also extreme variability between the individual states; for example, Texas has more _total_ fatalities than California. There's extreme variability between the sexes and for different age groups within those sexes. Finally, there are motorcycles.
AI/Driverless, AV and all the attendant sensors and inputs will have an impact, just not nearly as large of one as many people unfortunately expect.
[+] [-] jbrooksuk|8 years ago|reply
It also has front sensors which has alerted and braked for me a couple of times when someone has almost stopped dead at 60MPH (even with stopping distance, it was a quick stop).
[+] [-] leeoniya|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jbms|8 years ago|reply
i.e. a strip of light across the rear of the vehicle, that progressively lights up according to how hard the vehicle is braking (or anticipates braking, if it's autonomous).
Some cars have a flash-brake-lights-under-heavy-braking, but I think it would help traffic flow if you can more easily distinguish a touch of the brakes from a press of the brakes.
[+] [-] veritas3241|8 years ago|reply
Interesting to note, though, that we do have weak forms of braking that don't light up the tail lights - heavy engine braking in the case of manual transmissions, lighter engine-braking for automatics, and in the case of electric vehicles (at least a Tesla in my experience) the lights don't kick on from regen unless it's passed a certain deceleration level.
[+] [-] mstade|8 years ago|reply
I put a lot more faith in sensors to judge the distance to the car in front of me, than my visual perception of brake lights. At a certain medium distance, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to judge the difference between 25% brake and 75% anyway, but my car's sensors would be able to detect that I'm on a collision course, and could adjust gas/braking accordingly.
[+] [-] enraged_camel|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dmitriid|8 years ago|reply
"Vision 2020 is about reducing the number of people that die or are seriously injured in road traffic accidents to zero. "[1]
As sceptical as I am about corporate statements, you can see that Volvo is steadily working on this. They don't do splashy announcements or announce revolutions in driving, and yet they bring more and more changes and improvements to their cars. From assisted braking to lane assist to blind spot information to city collision avoidance to many many other small and big improvements.
[1] https://group.volvocars.com/company/vision
[+] [-] vaughanb|8 years ago|reply
I guess the AEB works at reducing accidents because it IS autonomous and does not "improve performance".
BTW the KPI is reduction in insurance cost.
[+] [-] ggg9990|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frogcoder|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] facorreia|8 years ago|reply
[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-26/uber-disa...
[+] [-] MertsA|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] icc97|8 years ago|reply
Although it's not their fault for the crash, celebrating the safety of an SUV, when it's size and extra weight means that crashes with pedestrians will more likely end in death, seems odd.
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] tristanj|8 years ago|reply
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNi17YLnZpg
[+] [-] urban_winter|8 years ago|reply
Volvo introduced Aeb in 2007 on the XC60. The XC90 only got it when they introduced the new generation a few years ago. Therefore claiming that the exceptional safety record of the XC90 is in any way related to AEB is just rubbish.
The reason why XC90s are associated with so few passenger injuries (note, no claims are made for injuries to other road users by XC90s) is that they are large, heavy and chosen by safsr-than-average demographics.
[+] [-] mirimir|8 years ago|reply
Also, I can imagine additional advantages of AEB. If someone's tailgating, just hit your brakes enough that their AEB will trigger.
[+] [-] vilhelm_s|8 years ago|reply
> in the period 1991-2001 [...] about 109,000 lives were saved by belts and 8,000 by airbags
so I guess seat belts were a bigger improvement.
[+] [-] objclxt|8 years ago|reply
Not by a long shot - seat belts reduce the chance of death by 60-70% across all crashes. Airbags reduce the chance of death by 15% in frontal collisions, and very little for other types[1]. The airbag isn’t going to much good if you’ve been ejected from the car.
[1]:http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/LevittPorter20...
[+] [-] Swizec|8 years ago|reply
That’s why modern cars try to avoid firing them unless absolutely necessary. You can get into a pretty serious crash and they won’t fire if the computer decides its better to let you gently tap the steering wheel than to run an expkosion into your face.
Fun example of an old and new Renault Espace crashing into each other: https://youtu.be/vRxLlFm3VUA
[+] [-] alkonaut|8 years ago|reply
That depends on how you count: no life saved by an airbag would be saved without airbag AND safety belt. An airbag alone saves no lives.
And I still doubt the airbag+belt combination made a bigger dent in the statistic than the introduction of the safety belt did (Although it's hard to compare due to completely different time periods)
[+] [-] zachkatz|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mirimir|8 years ago|reply
I did mean seat belt + air bag vs seat belt alone. But even then, air bags apparently improve seat belt protection by less than 20%.
I was thinking of dramatic high-speed frontal collisions with ~immovable objects. Where forces from seat belts alone can cause damage.
[+] [-] harel|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Tade0|8 years ago|reply
It does beep randomly sometimes - usually in heavy rain. But that one time it turned on pretty late, so it's a good last resort.
[+] [-] vigdals|8 years ago|reply
I think this is a combination of great safety equipment, the safeness of the car itself (crash tests and so on) and the people who buys it. Its not the most hardcore drivers who buys a Volvo, even tho the 2017 and newer models are really good looking. Volvo has always been a pioneer in security as well
[+] [-] KozmoNau7|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jnsaff2|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gmiller123456|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alphadevx|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alkonaut|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] squam|8 years ago|reply
/snark