The American Automobile Association has found in its independent testing of pedestrian detection within autonomous emergency braking systems may not save lives.
While acknowledging the features “are not intended to serve as a substitute for an engaged driver”, the investigation has found, among other results, at 48km/h three out of four test vehicles failed to reduce the impact speed by at least 8km/h.
The testing reveals pedestrian detection systems were “significantly challenged” when they encountered a child while travelling at 32km/h by only avoiding an impact 11% – or just over one in 10 occasions – using aggregated results.
When test vehicles were presented with a pedestrian while exiting a right-hand bend in the road, none of their autonomous emergency braking functions managed to mitigate any impact speeds during five test sequences per vehicle.
Only one in five collisions were avoided when two pedestrians were encountered walking at the roadside, although the study does not indicate whether the pedestrian dummies were talking toward or int he same direction as the vehicle.
EuroNCAP and ANCAP testing of pedestrian detection systems uses a dummy rig travelling in the same direction as the vehicle, where on the recently scored Audi A6 for example, with the system operable between 10-85km/h, in day the vehicle was rated as “Good”. However in night scenarios, the Audi was also scored as “Marginal”.
The AAA’s test declared “Evaluated pedestrian detection systems were ineffective during nighttime conditions”.
The vehicles tested were a Chevrolet Malibu, Honda Accord, Tesla Model 3, and Toyota Camry.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports in 2017 nearly 6000 pedestrians were killed in vehicle crashes with 75% of pedestrian fatalities occurring at night, compared to 21% during daylight, just 2% at dusk and 2% at dawn.
“Never rely on pedestrian detection systems to avoid a collision,” the AAA reminds.
“These systems serve as a backup rather than a primary means of collision avoidance,” the organisation highlights.
Images: ANCAP
