40 countries agree cars must have automatic braking

Geneva, February 13

Forty countries led by Japan and the European Union — but not India, the US or China — have agreed to require new cars and light commercial vehicles to be equipped with automated braking systems starting as soon as next year, a UN agency has said.

The regulation will require all vehicles sold to come equipped with the technology by which sensors monitor how close a pedestrian or object might be.

The system can trigger the brakes automatically if a collision is deemed imminent and if the driver doesn’t appear set to respond in time.

The United States, China and India are members of the UN forum that adopted the new regulations. However, they did not take part in the negotiations because they want to ensure that their national regulations keep precedence over UN rules in the auto industry.

In 2016, 20 automakers reached an agreement with the US government to put automatic emergency braking on all new vehicles by September of 2022, but compliance is voluntary.

The requirement will start taking effect next year first in Japan, where 4 million cars and light commercial vehicles were sold in 2018, said Jean Rodriguez, the spokesman for the agency, called United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

The European Union and some of its closest neighbours are expected to follow suit in 2022. The UNECE says the countries that agreed to the deal want to be more pro-active in fighting roadway accidents, particularly in urban settings where obstacles like pedestrians, scooters, bicycles and other cars in close proximity abound. —AP

How the system will work

• The system can trigger the brakes automatically if a collision is deemed imminent and if the driver doesn’t appear set to respond in time.
• Measure will apply to vehicles at “low speeds”: 60 km per hour or less, and only affects new cars — so vehicle owners won’t be required to retrofit vehicles already on roads
• Wary that the regulations might be seen as a step toward giving artificial intelligence precedence over humans, the draft said: A driver can take control and override these automated braking systems at any time, such as through “a steering action or an accelerator kick-down”