Auto emergency braking fails to recognise bikes

A recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in the US shows automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems fail to recognise motorcycles. AEB is becoming prevalent as part of the electronic driving aids for modern vehicles and it is worrisome the system fails to react to motorcycles, and possibly smaller road users such as bicycles.

In the IIHS study reported on its website, tests are run at multiple speeds and with the stationary “dummy” cars and motorcycles positioned in the center of the lane and offset to either side. During testing in April last year, results were less than stellar, with “only one of the 10 cars tested achieving a “good” rating, with two cars rated as “acceptable,” three as “marginal,” and four as “poor.””

However, in a larger scale test comprising of 30 cars and SUVs, just over half recorded a “good” score, defined as the ability to “prevent or substantially mitigate crashes” even at higher speeds up to 70 km/h. Seven cars were rated as poor, hitting the motorcycle at the lowest speed, 50 km/h.

Meanwhile, vehicles with an “acceptable” rating hit the motorcycle at higher speeds. Testing showed impact was recorded at 40 km/h, indicating while the AEB system began to brake it was far too late to prevent a collision.

Quoted from the report, IIHS says rear-end impacts account for more than 200 motorcyclist deaths per year, so getting AEB to work well when presented with a motorcycle rather than a larger target promises to save a substantial number of lives.

“These results indicate that preventing crashes at higher speeds, especially collisions with motorcycles, remains a challenge for some systems. Motorcycles are a special area of concern because, unlike passenger vehicle occupants, riders have little protection from crash injuries,” said IIHS President David Harkey.

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