Autonomous Braking Is Coming To All GMs. The Upside

Gorehamj · March 18, 2016

John Goreham
Contributing Writer, GM-Trucks.com
3/18/2016

Let's be a little bit selfish for a moment. Imagine that you and your family are stopped a red light on a 45 MPH road in your new Chevy Colorado. You are chatting with your spouse while your 8-year old is on her i-Phone, and your newborn is in his rear-facing child seat. Only he notices the Ford F-150 that does not seem to be slowing down behind you. Being just a rugrat, he does not understand the implications, but his eyes get that wide look little ones do when they see something they know is new and scary. You decide which scenario you prefer this story to have as an ending:

1) The F-150 (loaded with 1500 pounds of cinder blocks, by the way) hits your Colorado without slowing. You can imagine the results.

2) Ford's forward collision mitigation system notes the impending collision. It takes action, alerting the driver and applying a full panic braking procedure before the driver can respond. A crash is averted. Only the newborn sees anything was amiss, and you start off when the light turns green.

Most reader comments I have gotten over the past few years while covering forward collision prevention with auto-braking are something to effect of "Drivers should just pay attention." Who can argue that? Not this writer, who has never rear-ended anyone in over 30 years of driving. However, there is a footnote in my driving record. Last year I was on the highway at the end of rush hour when a flock of turkeys ran out of the woods and then stopped across all four lanes of the highway. Before I could react, the Acura I was in applied full braking. I'm almost certain it prevented me from hitting the pickup ahead of me who also was in full panic braking mode. All of the other lanes also had a car stopped I was not on the phone. I was alone in the car and paying attention. Still, the system saw a situation better than I could, and it helped me. I was not rear-ended, though there were cars and semis behind me doing that swervey-stop thing and a lot of smoking brakes and rubber.

GM is one of the companies that signed on to offer this technology on all its cars and trucks by 2022. You may have heard about it in the news this week. All automakers are now signed up. 2022 sounds far off, but about half the GM vehicles I test have it now already and you would never know it's there unless you have an emergency. Some cars I have tested, like the Subaru Forester in 2015, have been a little over-sensitive and had some false alarms. However, the Subaru Legacy I just tested this month had it, and there were no false alarms. Automakers are good at improving technology rapidly. False alarms are visual alerts by the way. In three years of testing vehicles with these systems I have never had one apply the brakes when there was not actually something ahead approaching very quickly.

Real-life testing proves the systems prevent crashes and injuries. IIHS conducted a three-year study comparing the same vehicles with and without forward collision prevention and found that the vehicles with it crashed into vehicles ahead of them about 40% less. They estimate that if all vehicles had the system it would prevent 700,000 crashes - each year.

Cost is always an issue. Who wants to pay for something they don't think they need? Apparently a lot of people do. Subaru's Eyesight system is at full capacity. Subaru would put it into more vehicles, but it cannot meet demand. A forester with FCP costs about $1100 more than one without. Toyota, however, has started to add FCP as a $300 option. Once the technology is widespread it will be cheap. I was watching Wheeler Dealers last night. Edd China was troubleshooting an ABS sensor issue. He noted that when the system debuted the sensor cost a "few hundred English pounds." The cost on current vehicles? Three pounds.

Take it from a person that tests vehicles every week with and without automatic emergency braking. You're right to grumble that drivers should pay closer attention, but this technology works.

MikeNH · March 19, 2016

Not supportive of anything that can totally take over until it is 100% reliable. Heard more than once of these systems throwing a fit and randomly inducing a full on panic stop. Then you will get plowed into by the guy behind you.

Daryl LBZ · March 19, 2016

Yea, I'll pass on this also.

LaserBlueZ71 · March 19, 2016

Whatever happened to just operating a piece of machinery properly with common sense, good judgement, and learned skills?

All these things they keep coming out with do not address the real problem, which is human beings and the care-free attitude they take towards operating a vehicle.

waumo1 · March 19, 2016

Society is moving toward 100% lack of personal responsibility. There will come a time when only autonomous vehicles are allowed to travel. It will take some time. The interim step will be you can still drive but insurance companies and lawsuits will make it impossible even when it is still legal then it will be outlawed and the "people" will demand it. Hopefully I will be long gone by then.

StinkyCheese · March 19, 2016

I'll stick with the tried and 100% true, PAY ATTENTION! It doesn't matter what the person in front of you does if you have "proper" following distance they can mash on the brakes all they want. I guess having been brought up only driving full size trucks I was taught different than other people...

The Zip · March 19, 2016

I'll stick with the tried and 100% true, PAY ATTENTION! It doesn't matter what the person in front of you does if you have "proper" following distance they can mash on the brakes all they want. I guess having been brought up only driving full size trucks I was taught different than other people...

I get it you don't like the concept because you were brought up driving fullsize trucks, but what about the fella behind you not as skilled and not paying attention to proper following distance?

StinkyCheese · March 20, 2016

I get it you don't like the concept because you were brought up driving fullsize trucks, but what about the fella behind you not as skilled and not paying attention to proper following distance?

Then he/she can kiss my hitch. Also it's not really a skill, just takes a couple brain cells is all.

j-ten-ner · March 20, 2016

The problem I see with this technology is that most drivers are already overwhelmed with the simple tasks of operating a vehicle.

Turn signal, tail lights, traffic signs, travel lane, passing lane, just to name a few.

And they get away with that.

Now imagine those people learn that their car is equipped with this autonomous braking thing....

Driving school for everyone. Mandatory.

Strict enforcement of the existing laws and regulations, that's where I'd start to make the roads safer.

And for the auto makers...don't invent a new technology before you haven't mastered the older ones.

so long

j-ten-ner

Shawn5800 · March 21, 2016

What is next? A restriction on the times of day I can drive my '70 and '07 pickup just because it doesn't have autonomous braking?

waumo1 · March 21, 2016

What is next? A restriction on the times of day I can drive my '70 and '07 pickup just because it doesn't have autonomous braking?

Don't give them any ideas.

Daryl LBZ · March 21, 2016

The problem I see with this technology is that most drivers are already overwhelmed with the simple tasks of operating a vehicle.

Turn signal, tail lights, traffic signs, travel lane, passing lane, just to name a few.

And they get away with that.

Now imagine those people learn that their car is equipped with this autonomous braking thing....

Driving school for everyone. Mandatory.

Strict enforcement of the existing laws and regulations, that's where I'd start to make the roads safer.

And for the auto makers...don't invent a new technology before you haven't mastered the older ones.

so long

j-ten-ner

Exactly. We should be more focused on changing how people learn to drive not adding a bunch of junk to a vehicle to do it for them.

There should be mandatory classes for teenagers in every school before they even get their learners permit, and people should be retested at a certain age to make sure they can still drive safely. Finland is a great example of how it should be.