Skip to main content

Multiple vehicle crashes could soon be a thing of the past, say experts

Experts at Thatcham Research - the UK motor insurers’ automotive research facility, believe that multiple vehicle accidents could be mitigated or avoided altogether with the widespread use of new automatic braking technologies. Thatcham has been researching and testing autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems on behalf of insurers for the last three years and has already undertaken an in-depth study of crashes and their causation factors.
September 25, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Experts at Thatcham Research - the UK motor insurers’ automotive research facility, believe that multiple vehicle accidents could be mitigated or avoided altogether with the widespread use of new automatic braking technologies.

Thatcham has been researching and testing autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems on behalf of insurers for the last three years and has already undertaken an in-depth study of crashes and their causation factors.

A number of major vehicle manufacturers are already providing AEB technologies on their vehicles and such is their effectiveness, as shown in the Thatcham test, that international safety body 6437 Euro NCAP will incorporate the test as part of their overall vehicle safety standard in 2014, whilst UK insurers are already offering favourable insurance groupings on vehicles fitted with AEB as standard.

“The evidence from our testing is undeniable and combined with a growing body of real world research and evidence we firmly believe that AEB and other ADAS (Advanced Driver Assist Systems) have a critical role to play in avoiding both common low-speed shunts that can cause injuries such as whiplash, and mitigating some of the horrendous injuries and fatalities that we see as result of higher speed pile-ups,” says Peter Shaw, chief executive of Thatcham Research.

“Currently, some 20 per cent of new cars in the UK have an AEB system available and if that rate of development continues we would hope that, by 2030, multiple-vehicle collisions could be history.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Congestion pricing - no such thing as a free ride
    October 2, 2018
    The widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles is likely to increase congestion, many experts believe. But Wes Guckert of Traffic Group believes that tolling could provide the answer. While it is still hard to wrap your head around the idea of getting into a vehicle without a driver, the industry is now used to hearing, reading, participating in the advancement of autonomous vehicles (AVs). Those in the industry have heard about Uber delivering a shipment of Budweiser, or the convoy of driverless trucks
  • Transmax trials emergency vehicle ‘green wave’
    December 6, 2013
    Existing equipment used in Australian emergency vehicle ‘green wave’ trial. Despite the lights and sirens, accidents between the motoring public and emergency vehicles on their way to/from the scene of an incident are relatively frequent. Figures from various sources indicate that road accidents are the second most frequent cause of death for on-duty fire fighter fatalities and that more than 90% of ambulance and fire engine accidents occur when the lights are on and the sirens wailing. Other studies indica
  • Should it be end of the road for right-turns on red?
    April 10, 2024
    Banning right-hand turns after stopping for a red light is gaining momentum in the US. But the debate continues about whether it will result in fewer incidents between vehicles and alternative mobility users. David Arminas reports
  • Autonomous vehicles – saviour and threat, says report
    November 1, 2016
    A new report from IDTechEx Research notes that autonomous vehicles need no pilot, not even one in reserve. Many truly autonomous vehicles are unmanned mobile robots prowling everywhere from the ocean depths to nuclear power stations, the upper atmosphere and outer space. They create billion dollar businesses such as aircraft and airships aloft for five to ten years on sunshine alone carrying out surveillance or beaming the internet to the 4.5 billion people who lack it. Independence of energy and electri