Automated Emergency Braking (AEB) first entered the UK market in November 2008 as standard fitment on the Volvo XC60. This system was a LIDAR based system operating up to 30km/h to address low-speed rear-end frontal collisions. There has been continuous increase in the number of vehicles offered with AEB systems as standard. As of January 2017, 1,586,103 vehicles in the UK are fitted with AEB representing 4.3% of the vehicle car parc. Testing of these systems has also broadened with AEB City and Inter-Urban tests entering the Euro NCAP assessment in 2014 with Pedestrian AEB entering in 2016 and by 2018 Cyclist AEB test will also be added to the Euro NCAP assessment. Other AEB tests have also been developed for reverse AEB systems with the intention of adopting these tests into the UK insurance group rating system.

An analysis of both Euro NCAP AEB City test results and insurance claims information shows that over the respective years of study AEB system performance has improved with a corresponding increase in system functionality. Recent vehicle tests show that a AEB system with City, Inter-Urban and Pedestrian functions will score 100% compared to the highest City only average of 81%. Statistical analysis on the effect AEB equipped vehicles compared to a control cohort of similar vehicles showed that Third Party Injury claim frequency is reduced by 38% for a City & Inter-Urban system compared to 28% for a City only system.

It is expected that the ADAS development required to enable assisted and automated driving will continue to improve the efficacy of AEB systems and further real-world safety benefits will be realised.