Advanced Emegency Braking (AEB)
Resources
Glossary of terms
Australian Design Rules
General Information
AEB uses sensors to monitor the proximity of vehicles and other objects in front. If the system detects situations where the relative speed and distance between the host and target object suggests that a collision is imminent, it will provide a warning and potentially apply the service brakes to avoid a crash or at least to mitigate its effect, if the operator hasn’t already applied the service brake.
The system is designed to act as a driving aid: it helps the driver prevent a collision or lessen the effects of a collision. The system does not always prevent a potential collision from happening. The system does not relieve the driver of their duty to drive safely and to road conditions.
The benefits of AEB include
- Avoid or reduce the severity of a rear end collision when following other vehicles.
- Assist driver in high traffic areas where driver may often be distracted by other road users.
The limitations of AEB include
- As required by the ADR, the AEB only needs to recognise a small sedan or larger vehicle.
- There may be significant differences between systems: different systems may not pick up motorcycles, cyclists and pedestrians.
- The system will be deactivated in a range of situations.
- Drivers should not exclusively rely on the AEB to prevent collisions or accidents.
- It is not designed for vehicles with four or more axles, or off-road vehicle use.
Advanced, autonomous, and automatic emergency braking are interchangeable terms as part of the AEB acronym, but they should not be! The only term that should be used is Advanced Emergency Braking as used in the Australian Design Rules (ADR).
There's a number of alternative names for AEB in the transport and heavy vehicle industries, but system features may not always be the same.
- Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner - “Active Brake Assist”.
- Volvo – “Collision warning with emergency brake”
- Scania/Iveco – “Advanced Emergency Braking”
- Hino – “Autonomous Emergency Braking system (AEB)
- MAN – “Emergency Brake Assist” EBA
- Iveco – AEBS Advanced Emergency Braking Systems
- Kenworth – Bendix Wingman Fusion
- Mack – Bendix Wingman Fusion
- KB Collision Mitigation
- Volvo – Collision warning with emergency brake (CW-EB)
Australian Design Rule (ADR)
AEB is being implemented in the Australian market via Australian Design Rule 97/00 – Advanced Emergency Braking for Omnibuses, and Medium and Heavy Goods Vehicles 2022, which is based on UN Regulation R131. This ADR is being progressively introduced from November 2023 for new model trucks and buses, then all new buses and trucks sold from November 2024 and November 2025 respectively.
Like Europe, the ADR only applies AEB to 2 and 3 axle on-road units with a passenger vehicles as their main target.
What is Advanced Emergency Braking (AEB)?
AEB is a truck-based safety feature which aims to eliminate or lessen the impact of a collision.
If AEB detects the risk of a collision with the vehicle in front, it issues warnings. The ADR provides two modes of warning and these are typically audible and visual signals. If the driver does not react and the risk persists, AEB automatically initiates partial braking of the vehicle. If you do not react to the partial brake application, AEB automatically initiates an emergency braking application with the aim to eliminate or reduce the severity of the crash.
In summarising the Australian Design Rule ADR97/00: Advanced Electronic Brake system is a truck-based safety feature designed to recognise a passenger vehicle being approached from the rear. The system must then progress through a series of audio-visual warnings to the driver, before intervening autonomously by applying the brakes to avoid or reduce the severity of a collision. The ADR does not currently mandate the same functionality for a potential pedestrian or bicycle impact, and it may not identify large farm machinery items.
AEB system may be purely radar based or could be enhanced with a camera.
Camera allows the AEB system to identify the object, while the radar principally identifies size and location. Advantages of a system incorporating a camera are that other integrated features are possible e.g., speed sign recognition, and lane departure.
If the camera is fitted in a cab over engine prime mover configuration, it will typically be located at the bottom of the windscreen, while for a bonneted unit it will typically be located at the top of windscreen.
Note
- Similar to an automated transmission, at key on on the ADAS systems it will take up to 10kms travel to learn the vehicles setup, loading, and environment.
In summary an AEB system:
- will help the driver by decelerating the vehicle as much as possible if the driver presses the brake pedal independently of the system warnings.
- will help the driver by decelerating the vehicle as much as possible if the driver presses the brake pedal after the system issues a collision alarm warning.
- is able to warn the driver and automatically operate the emergency brake if impact is unavoidable.