Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; Automatic Emergency Braking Systems for Light Vehicles

This final rule adopts a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard to require automatic emergency braking (AEB), including pedestrian AEB (PAEB), systems on light vehicles. An AEB system uses various sensor technologies and sub-systems that work together to detect when the vehicle is in a crash imminent situation, to automatically apply the vehicle brakes if the driver has not done so, or to apply more braking force to supplement the driver's braking. This final rule specifies that an AEB system must detect and react to an imminent crash with both a lead vehicle or a pedestrian. This final rule fulfills a mandate under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) directing the Department to promulgate a rule to require that all passenger vehicles be equipped with an AEB system. The purpose of this final rule is to reduce the number of deaths and injuries that result from crashes in which drivers do not apply the brakes or fail to apply sufficient braking power to avoid or mitigate a crash, and to reduce the consequences of such crashes.