TriEye

TriEye’s Technology Revolutionizes Road Safety to Meet New AEB Standards

August 20, 2024
  • New AEB regulations are official for any new commercial vehicle from 2029.
  • Performance requirements specify that AEB systems must operate effectively between 10-145 km/h for vehicle collisions and 10-73 km/h for pedestrian collisions, both day and night, even at ≤ 0.2 lux without high beams. Additionally, systems must function in ambient temperatures from 0-40°C and identify and alert drivers of any malfunctions/degradation.
  • SEDAR delivers one of the most promising offerings to meet the regulations in a cost-effective way.

The Safety Problem

In a significant move to enhance road safety, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has recently released the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS 127), which mandates the inclusion of Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) in all new passenger vehicles and light trucks starting in 2029. This regulation aims to reduce fatalities (collisions with pedestrians and rear-end crashes) and save lives by ensuring vehicles can automatically apply brakes in emergencies, even if drivers do not react in time.

Pedestrian fatalities continue to tick upward. Since reaching a low point in 2009, NHTSA estimates for 2021 show pedestrian crash deaths have soared nearly 80 percent.

According to the regulation, AEB systems must meet stringent performance criteria to address real-world conditions effectively. In 2019, almost 2.2 million rear-end crashes on U.S. roadways involving light vehicles were reported to the police, resulting in 1,798 deaths and 574,000 injuries. Additionally, there were 6,272 pedestrian fatalities in motor vehicle accidents, representing 17 percent of all motor vehicle deaths. This troubling trend of rising pedestrian fatalities continued, with another 76,000 pedestrians injured in vehicle crashes. Recent years have seen even higher numbers of deaths and injuries.

The new rule is projected to save at least 362 lives annually and prevent 24,321 non-fatal injuries, which seeks to tackle the increasing number of transportation-related deaths and serious injuries, particularly those involving pedestrians.

Notably, 77 percent of pedestrian fatalities and approximately half of pedestrian injuries occur in low-light conditions. Thus, the final rule mandates that Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking (PAEB) systems must be capable of preventing pedestrian crashes in low-light conditions, which is essential given the high rate of nighttime pedestrian fatalities.

 

The Importance of AEB Regulation

While AEB technology has been available, this regulation makes it compulsory, ensuring that all new cars and light trucks will have this essential feature. The AEB systems must be capable of detecting and reacting to both vehicles and pedestrians, functioning effectively in both daylight and darkness. This move aims to reduce the number and severity of rear-end collisions and pedestrian accidents. By making AEB a standard requirement, NHTSA underscores the importance of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) in enhancing road safety and reducing traffic accidents.

According to an IIHS report, most current pedestrian AEB systems failed in nighttime tests, highlighting a significant gap in their performance under low-light conditions​​.

Based on the new rule, AEB systems in all-new vehicles up to 4.5 tons, starting in 2029, need to include:

  • Forward Collision Warning (FCW): Alerts drivers of potential crashes through audible and visible warnings.
  • Crash Imminent Braking (CIB): Automatically initiates braking to prevent collisions.
  • Dynamic Brake Support (DBS): Assists manual braking to avoid crashes.

Performance requirements specify that AEB systems must operate effectively between 10-145 km/h for vehicle collisions and 10-73 km/h for pedestrian collisions, both day and night, even at ≤ 0.2 lux without high beams. Additionally, systems must function in ambient temperatures from 0-40°C and identify and alert drivers of any malfunctions/degradation.

For safety sensors in cars, particularly those required by the new AEB regulation, the ability to detect obstacles accurately at varying distances and under diverse environmental conditions is crucial. Current ADAS systems rely on sensor fusion, combining data from multiple sensors to achieve the necessary reliability and accuracy, as no single sensor can generate all the data required for driving decisions.

SEDAR: All-in-One Solution for Safety

TriEye’s SEDAR platform is uniquely positioned to meet and exceed these new safety standards. It excels in addressing these stringent requirements through its advanced capabilities.

The Core Benefits of SEDAR:

  • All-in-One Solution: Unlike other systems that depend on sensor fusion, SEDAR integrates detection and ranging (2D and 3D) into a fully synchronized single platform. This integration consistently offers high resolution, high accuracy, and long-distance sensing capabilities. The streamlined architecture reduces both costs and complexity, presenting a cost-effective solution for manufacturers and consumers alike.
  • Superior Safety with Minimal False Positives: TriEye’s SEDAR platform is engineered to ensure exceptional safety by enabling precise decision-making with minimal false positives. Its independence from other sensing modalities allows for high-confidence data for emergency braking, ensuring reliable performance without compromising driver comfort. This marks a significant improvement over traditional systems that require sensor fusion to achieve comparable accuracy.
  • Optimal Detection and Environmental Resilience: The SEDAR platform excels in delivering high-resolution, long-distance detection capabilities. Its robust performance across various environmental conditions, from bright sunlight to complete darkness, ensures consistent reliability. This adaptability aligns perfectly with the stringent requirements outlined in the new AEB regulation, ensuring dependable operation in diverse scenarios.

Figure 1: Performance Comparison SEDAR vs. visible camera during nighttime conditions. The system accurately identifies multiple objects—including a pedestrian, a wood pallet, a traffic cone, and a small 20 cm box—located next to a guardrail.

Figure 2: Performance Comparison SEDAR vs. visible camera under varying lighting conditions. The system demonstrates superior accuracy by reliably identifying a pedestrian at the exit of a tunnel, where the visible camera struggles due to strong light blinding.”

Conclusion

The introduction of the new NHTSA rule for AEB underscores the importance of embedding new advanced safety technologies in vehicles. TriEye’s SEDAR platform not only meets these new regulatory requirements but also sets a new benchmark for automotive safety with its superior accuracy, reliability, and cost-effectiveness. By integrating high resolution, long-distance detection, and environmental immunity into a single platform, SEDAR ensures that vehicles can respond to emergencies swiftly and effectively, making roads safer for everyone.

TriEye’s SEDAR platform is poised to redefine automotive safety by aligning with the latest AEB regulations and setting new industry standards. As we approach 2029, SEDAR will be crucial in safeguarding passengers and pedestrians.

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