Cars might not be far from preventing accidents themselves, if autonomous emergency braking (AEB) technology, being implemented by Swedish manufacturer Volvo is successfully applied across the board.
NRMA Insurance Head of Research Robert McDonald says the technology has great potential to prevent injury and reduce insurance claims.
"It can prevent a collision at up to 60 km/h, and mitigate (accidents) in some cases at over 100 km/h," McDonald said at a display test on Wednesday.
AEB employs a combination of laser, radar and camera sensors to observe and analyse a car's surroundings and apply the brakes if it senses a critical situation.
Like a laid-back yet still hawk-eyed parent, the technology only intervenes at the latest possible moment before a collision.
Mr McDonald says the technology is particularly effective for avoiding low speed nose-to-tail bingles, reducing injury and lowering the cost of insurance claims.
"If you can drop even 10km off an impact speed, you can massively reduce the potential for injury for people inside the car," he said.
"Advanced systems will (also) detect pedestrians both forward and at the rear of the car as well."
Currently only a handful of car makers in the Australian market produce models with AEB coming as a standard feature.
There are just 15 models in total with the full range of AEB technology to mitigate low-speed, high-speed and pedestrian collisions.
Mr McDonald said it costs manufacturers less than $200 per car to include AEB. This figure will drop as the technology becomes more common.
Insurers are hoping car makers will introduce AEB as standard, with NRMA offering reduced insurance premiums as a financial incentive.
Evan Walker, safety systems manager at the NSW Centre for Road Safety, said the industry is always on the lookout for the next "magic bullet" of road safety.
"With human behaviour and roads, things are well understood," he said.
"But every now and again you get an increase in vehicle technology, such as ESC (electronic stability control) or ABS (anti-lock braking system).
"So hopefully this technology is up there with those."
Share
