Autonomous Emergency Braking

If you've ever been involved in a crash you'll know just how traumatic, costly and inconvenient it can be for all involved. That's why at Thatcham we're determined to 'stop the crash' for the benefit of all road users and our experts believe that Autonomous Emergency Braking is the most important new technology we've seen to achieve these ambitious aims. Thatcham is a world renowned motor vehicle research centre funded by the leading UK motor insurers. For over 44 years, Thatcham has provided specialist research based services which have contributed to improvements in vehicle safety, theft reduction and control of crash damage costs. Thatcham Research is a Euro NCAP accredited testing facility and has for over 15 years undertaken rear impact assessment testing of seat and head restraint design which, in collaboration with vehicle manufacturers has driven significant improvements into the UK car parc. Thatcham Research data underpins the UK Motor Insurance Group Ratings system, which provides underwriting insight on all new vehicles to the industry on behalf of the Association of British Insurers (ABI). In the 1990s Thatcham introduced vehicle security standards which were influential in dramatically reducing vehicle theft in the UK and this focus continues today, alongside the growing importance of our collaboration with car makers to influence the design and specification of cars on UK roads. More recently our work has focused upon " Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) " technologies that improve safety in a range of road conditions and situations through driver warning and intervention. The objective of this work has been to reduce crash frequency in order to bring down the cost of whiplash claims and vehicle repair costs being borne by UK insurers. Although argument persists about the legitimacy of some insurance claims for whiplash injury, the simple fact is that if the crash can be avoided there is no claim, no damage and no risk of personal injury. By far the most significant of all the new " driver assistance systems " actually available from most car makers right now is Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB). Growing evidence from other countries and analysis of our own UK insurance claims database clearly demonstrates that cars with effective AEB systems crash significantly less frequently and as a result of this fact lives can be saved, injuries avoided and disruption to roads minimised, whilst our economy benefits accordingly. Recognising the potential of AEB over 3 …