The NHTSA, a branch of the US Department of Transportation, issued a final rule late last month mandating automatic emergency braking (AEB), including pedestrian AEB, as standard.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a preliminary investigation into Ford's BlueCruise driver assistance system following two separate fatal crashes that occurred at night. BlueCruise joins Tesla's Autopilot as the second driver assistance program to face federal scrutiny.
Congress directed the NHTSA in the 2021 infrastructure law to create a rule to establish minimum performance standards for automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems, which use sensors like cameras and radar to detect when a vehicle is close to crashing and then automatically applies brakes if the driver has not done so.
As Elon Musk's Tesla faces multiple lawsuits and a federal investigation, the company's assertion that drivers are solely responsible for crashes involving its Autopilot technology is coming under intense scrutiny.
In the not-too-distant future, automatic emergency braking will have to come standard on all new passenger vehicles in the US, a requirement the government says will save hundreds.