Technology could help reduce fatal accidents.
Traffic fatalities are one of the most persistent causes of death in the United States, and are increasing despite advances such as crash warning and avoidance systems and increased use of air bags . Almost 43,000 people died in road accidents in 2022. This was slightly less than in 2021, but 31 percent more than in 2014.
Traffic deaths had been declining until about a decade ago, when they began to rise rapidly. The increase has been driven by an uptick in pedestrian deaths. An estimated 3,500 pedestrians were killed in the first half of 2022, the most recent period for which data is available. It is the highest figure in 40 years.
The toll goes beyond fatalities. In 2019, the economic cost of auto accidents totaled $340 billion, according to the safety agency. In that year, 36,500 people died in traffic accidents, 4.5 million were injured and 23 million vehicles were damaged.
Government officials said the proposed automatic braking could save at least 360 lives a year and reduce injuries by about 24,000 a year. Even when automatic braking does not prevent accidents, it can make accidents less serious by braking cars.
Braking systems use radars or cameras to anticipate accidents.
Automatic emergency braking systems typically use cameras, radar, or both to detect vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, and other obstacles. By comparing a vehicle’s speed and direction with that of other vehicles or people, these systems can determine that a collision is imminent, warn the driver with an alarm, and apply the brakes if the driver does not.
The first such systems were introduced in 2011. Five years later, automakers voluntarily agreed to make automatic emergency braking technology standard in all new cars and trucks by 2022. agency said its proposed rule would impose higher standards than the technology that automakers had accepted. use.
In a statement, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the industry’s main lobby group, neither endorsed nor opposed the proposed rule, calling automatic braking an “advanced technology” that automakers “they have already deployed.”
Automatic braking is a component of advanced driver assistance systems found in some new cars. These systems are capable of steering without human intervention and, in some cases, of changing lanes and allowing drivers to take their hands off the wheel on the roads. These systems include Tesla’s Autopilot, General Motors’ Super Cruise and Ford Motor’s BlueCruise.
The federal safety agency has been investigating Tesla’s system after it apparently failed to identify and detect other vehicles in some situations. The agency is looking into 43 crashes, including 14 that killed 18 people, that occurred while Autopilot or another system the company calls Full Self-Driving was engaged.
It could be several years before the rules take effect.
The safety agency will receive comments on the rule from automakers, safety groups and the public before making it final, a process that could take a year or more. The rule will enter into force three years after its approval.
On Tuesday, President Biden withdrew the nomination of Ann E. Carlson to lead the agency. Some Republican senators had opposed his appointment because of his past work on environmental policy. Formerly a professor of law at the University of California, Los Angeles, Ms. Carlson has been the agency’s acting administrator since September.
