A welcome development

What the car industry calls Autonomous Emergency Braking Systems – or simply AEB – are still relatively rare on our roads. But this week safety organisation Euro NCAP has announced they will be part of its star-rating system from 2014, and that means we’ll start to see more and more of them. AEB can help to avoid crashes or mitigate their severity by warning the driver and supporting his braking response and/or apply the brakes independently. In short, if you don't pay attention in slow-moving traffic, AEB will stop you shunting the car in front. On the Skoda Citigo I’m driving at the moment it’s called City Safe Drive, Volvo’s AEB is branded City Safety on the XC60, and other systems are available. Real-world data suggests AEB can cut accidents by around a quarter, yet at the moment it’s unavailable on 79 per cent of the car models on sale in Europe. Two-thirds of manufacturers don’t offer AEB on any of their new car models. Thanks to Euro NCAP’s excellent decision, those numbers should start coming down very quickly.