US to mandate automatic emergency braking on new vehicles in 5 years

What these requirements do is save lives. We’re living through a crisis in roadway deaths. Car crashes kill about as many people as gun violence in this country, and so we need to do something about it. We’ve seen some improvements in the numbers, but not nearly enough. And so we need to make sure that we have the right technologies in America’s cars that can help save lives. This rule requires the installation of automatic emergency brakes that can prevent a collision with another vehicle or with a pedestrian at high speeds. The end of this decade, every car sold in America will have this new safety feature. We want to make sure this isn’t just a bell and whistle that you get if you pay extra for it, but really the floor. The same way every car has to have seatbelts in it. And we estimate that this rule will save 362 lives a year, prevent about 24,000 injuries, and save billions of dollars in property damage. Nitsa believes this is the most significant rule on safety that they put forward in 20 years. And it does represent our department recognizing today’s technologies and knowing that, you know, regulating the safety of a car isn’t just about the powertrain or the tires. It’s increasingly about the software and the capabilities on board. I think this rule is a true game changer in terms of saving lives. It will be making cars much safer and it’s technology that we know has the capability of working well. It just time for a minimum standard so that we know that everyone is benefiting from. The technology in the in the correct way.