Stop relying on reverse automatic braking alone, says AAA

Recent American Automobile Association (AAA) research examined various simulated collisions across four popular 2023 model-year vehicles equipped with reverse automatic emergency braking (AEB) with rear cross traffic mitigation.Reverse AEB systems have been shown to significantly reduce rear-end collisions. Reverse AEB with rear cross traffic mitigation systems are designed to mitigate or prevent collisions with other vehicles, with some reverse AEB systems detecting rear cross-traffic and automatically applying brakes in response to other cars, pedestrians, cyclists or stationary objects. AAA Engineers wanted to know how reverse AEB systems perform when 1) backing out of a parking space into the path of an oncoming vehicle with an adjacently parked vehicle blocking the view. And 2) while encountering a stationary child pedestrian behind the vehicle.The results were as follows:

“Drivers should not solely rely on these advanced driving systems to prevent collisions, but instead use them to enhance their awareness of their surroundings and support safe driving,” said Greg Brannon, AAA’s director of automotive engineering. “Above all, vehicle testing requirements for these systems should be updated to be consistent, taking into consideration unusual objects and more realistic scenarios with the goal of achieving the greatest safety benefit to drivers, pedestrians and cyclists,” said Brannon.