Modern Ford vehicles can be manufactured with a system known as Pre-Collision Assist with Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB). The Pre-Collision Assist feature uses camera technology to detect a potential collision with a vehicle or pedestrian directly ahead. If a potential collision is detected, an alert sound is emitted, and a warning message displays in the vehicle’s message center. If the driver response is not sufficient, AEB will be pre-charged and brake-assist sensitivity will be increased to provide full responsiveness if the driver does brake. If there is no perceived corrective action and a collision is imminent, the vehicle’s brakes can apply automatically. By detecting the possible collision and actuating the braking system, it is possible to prevent some collisions and lessen the severity of others.
Testing of this system was conducted using a 2020 Ford Explorer. During several tests, the instrumented Ford was driven at a simulated target vehicle or pedestrian dummy. Data were collected to determine at what range the system activated, the closing speeds at which the system prevented a collision, the vehicle deceleration rate resulting from system activation, and the behavior of the system when there was some driver intervention.