Will AEB Regulation Come to Trucking?

If you have watched television in the last decade or so, there is a pretty good chance you have seen a commercial regarding automatic emergency brakes (AEB) in 4-wheel cars.

You may even have the feature in your own car. Is it possible that it will become a standard requirement on heavy-duty trucks? All indicators point to “yes.”

Details

AEB technology uses sensors to look ahead for tall, solid objects, with a threshold changing depending on how fast the vehicle is moving, and applies the brakes if it sees a solid object within the threshold. Even if the vehicle does not stop in time, it can mitigate the damage, considering the physics equation that says each mile per hour adds more kinetic energy than the last. For instance, a truck moving 77 miles per hour has twice the propensity for damage as one traveling 55 MPH instead. A study has concluded that AEB can reduce crashes by 49% and reduce serious injury by 53%.

As such, the concept of applying AEB to trucks has been a strong consideration amongst regulators. Most, if not all, modern trucks have AEB installed for safety, but with the average age of trucks on the road being 9.8 years old, it is fair to say that an overwhelming majority of trucks do not have it.

The usually method of regulation for technology is “grandfathering”, where trucks before a certain date do not need the technology and those after it do, making the inexorable passage of time lead to more adoption as older trucks retire, but with how well AEB performs at reducing serious crashes, it is possible that regulators may require refurbishing of old trucks to have it.

Conclusion

The idea of an AEB mandate has been derided by the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. Not because it is against the idea, but because it believes the technology needs to be perfected for the much heavier trucks before it should be required.

It is hard to say whether or not AEB systems will become a retrofit deal, but considering the costs and benefits, it is significantly more likely to happen than other safety technology such as driver-facing cameras. We will keep you posted if any news on AEB mandates appears.

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