New vehicle systems are now available which automatically apply emergency braking to a vehicle if a crash is imminent. Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) technology enables a vehicle to avoid a low-speed car-to-car impact, which would typically lead to substantial vehicle damage or claims for whiplash injuries, or mitigate a high speed crash reducing injury and damage. A real world study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in the US showed that Autonomous Emergency Braking reduces crashes by up to 25%. Following analysis by Thatcham on the potential benefits of widespread adoption of low-speed Autonomous Emergency Braking into the UK fleet, UK insurers have incentivised the adoption of Autonomous Emergency Braking systems into new cars. A significant reduction has been offered to the insurance group rating of vehicles which have Autonomous Emergency Braking as standard fit.
