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Autonomous Emergency Braking: What You Need to Know to be Safe

Autonomous emergency braking and when does it kick in

Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEM) is like an extra set of eyes watching the road to brake your vehicle in situations where you’re closing in too fact on a vehicle in front of you or pedestrians. AEB is part of the Advanced Driver Assistance (ADAS) system in your vehicle. ADAS uses various technologies like radar, ultrasonic, laser/radar (Li-dar), cameras and artificial intelligence to recognize a dangerous situation and apply a safety system to reduce accidents and injury.

How Autonomous Emergency Braking works

Some vehicles use radar sensors and cameras on the front of the vehicle. They constantly scan the road to detect potential collisions. They can identify and track objects like other vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, etc. Sophisticated software processes the sensor data to understand the situation. It calculates speed, distance, and trajectory of surrounding obstacles.

If the system determines a collision is imminent and the

autonomous emergency braking warning light

Autonomous emergency braking warning icon on dash

driver has not braked, it first provides audible and visual alerts to prompt the driver to brake.

If the driver still does not respond in time, the autonomous emergency braking system will automatically apply the brakes to slow and hopefully prevent a crash entirely. The amount of deceleration provided varies by system capability.
The latest AEB systems can bring a vehicle to a complete stop if necessary before an impending forward collision.

AEB also includes electronic brake force distribution

Many carmakers incorporate electronic brake force distribution into their ADAS. In traditional vehicles, 70%-80% of the braking is done by the front brakes. However, in an emergency stop, hard braking causes the body weight to shift forward, putting even more weight on the front brakes. In some case, that extra weight can prevent stopping in time. Hats where brake force distribution comes into play.

When the system detects the need for AEB, it first applies the rear brakes to prevent rear end lift and weight shift. Then it applies the front brakes. The system is smart enough to vary brake force to the front and rear wheels to ensure the vehicle stops in time. For more information on electronic brake force distribution, see this post.

©, 2020 Rick Muscoplat

Posted on by Rick Muscoplat



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