A study by EuroNCAP and ANCAP shows low speed autonomous emergency braking leads to a 38% reduction in real-world rear end crashes.

Autonomous Emergency Braking is one of the more promising safety technologies that is becoming increasingly common on modern passenger cars. The low speed option normally consists of an automatic brake function that operates for speeds up to 30km/h (18mph) or 50km/h (31mph).

Previous studies have predicted significant expected benefits of AEB technology in low speed rear-end crashes but, so far, there has been little evidence that they really work.

The publication, Effectiveness of Low Speed Autonomous Braking in Real World Rear End Crashes, also found that there is no significant difference between urban and rural crash benefits.

Real-world evaluations of advanced safety systems are often limited by slow take-up rates, insufficient crash data and lower crash rates of new, safer vehicles.

Euro NCAP, with the support of ANCAP, has initiated the ‘Validating Vehicle Safety through Meta-Analysis’ (VVSMA) group that brings together experts from governments, industry, consumer and insurance organisations. The group pooled data from five European countries plus Australia using a standard analysis format and a novel prospective meta-analysis approach. Induced exposure methods were adopted to control for any extraneous effects.

Dr Anders Lie, the group chairman from the Swedish Transport Administration, said: “The meta-analysis approach used in this analysis is a unique academic contribution to the evaluation of vehicle safety technologies internationally and proved to be reliable with robust findings. Clearly, at this level of effectiveness, low speed AEB is potentially an important active safety technology and widespread fitment through the vehicle fleet should be encouraged in the interest of improved vehicle safety.”

Dr Michiel van Ratingen, secretary general of Euro NCAP, added: “These findings strongly support our decision to make AEB technology a key discriminator in the safety rating of new vehicles. Through VVSMA, we will continue to monitor the effectiveness in reducing real world crashes of the advanced systems that are promoted in order to validate and improve the overall star rating.”