IIHS: AEB Systems Underperforming at Night

Automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems that can detect pedestrians are preventing pedestrian crashes, but only in the daytime or on well-lit roads, according to a new study from the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS).

Overall, crash rates for pedestrian crashes of all severities were 27% lower for vehicles equipped with pedestrian AEB than for unequipped vehicles, according to the IIHS study, but when the researchers looked only at pedestrian crashes that occurred at night on roads without streetlights, there was no difference in crash risk for vehicles with and without pedestrian AEB.

“This is the first real-world study of pedestrian AEB to cover a broad range of manufacturers, and it proves the technology is eliminating crashes,” says Jessica Cicchino, IIHS vice president of research and the study’s author. “Unfortunately, it also shows these systems are much less effective in the dark, where three-quarters of fatal pedestrian crashes happen.”

To address the shortcomings identified by Cicchino’s research, IIHS is now developing a nighttime test, with plans to publish the first official nighttime pedestrian crash prevention ratings later this year.

Click here to read more from the IIHS.