TRW Automotive Holdings has announced the development of its latest intelligent safety system - Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB). The system can potentially mitigate the severity of accidents and therefore help reduce the dangers to drivers and passengers. "AEB combines advanced driver assist systems and premium electronic stability control to rapidly decelerate the vehicle with or without driver intervention if a crash is determined to be inevitable," said Josef Pickenhahn, vice president of braking engineering for TRW.

TRW's AEB systems can utilize Long Range Radar (LRR) or Medium Range Radar (MRR) in combination with a video camera (usually mounted behind the rear view mirror facing forward through the windshield). These sensors independently gather data - the LRR or MRR looks forward in a long but narrower field of view while the camera covers a wider field of view and helps detect and classify objects such as other vehicles.

The data gathered by each of these sensors is fed to the control unit and is constantly compared every 40 milliseconds in what is called data fusion. Both sensors need to independently verify the criticality of a foreseeable crash and confirm that AEB should be deployed. The rapid deceleration of the vehicle can then be accomplished through the use of a premium electronic stability control unit that can build high levels of brake pressure quickly.
Pickenhahn added: "AEB is another example of a Cognitive Safety System that is constantly sensing the environment, analysing the situation and acting in the most appropriate way to help keep drivers and passengers safer."