U.S. Proposes Requiring New Cars to Have Automatic Braking Systems

The technology could help reduce fatal accidents.

Traffic fatalities are one of the most persistent causes of death in the United States, and they are increasing despite advances such as warning and crash avoidance systems, and increasing airbag use. Nearly 43,000 people died in auto crashes in 2022. That was down slightly from 2021, but 31 percent higher than in 2014.

Traffic deaths had been declining until about a decade ago, when they began rising rapidly. The rise has been driven by a spike in pedestrian deaths. An estimated 3,500 pedestrians were killed in the first half of 2022, the most recent period for which data is available. That is the highest number in 40 years.

The toll goes beyond fatalities. In 2019, the economic cost of auto crashes totaled $340 billion, according to the safety agency. In that year, 36,500 people died in auto accidents, 4.5 million were injured and 23 million vehicles were damaged.

Government officials said the automatic-braking proposal could save at least 360 lives a year and reduce injuries by about 24,000 a year. Even when automatic braking doesn’t prevent crashes, it can make accidents less severe by slowing down cars.

Braking systems use radar or cameras to anticipate accidents.

Automatic emergency braking systems typically use cameras, radar or both to spot vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and other obstacles. By comparing a vehicle’s speed and direction with those of other vehicles or people, these systems can determine that a collision is imminent, alert the driver through an alarm and activate the brakes if the driver fails to do so.

The first such systems were introduced in 2011. Five years later, automakers voluntarily agreed to make automatic emergency braking technology standard in all new cars and trucks by 2022. The agency said its proposed rule would impose higher standards than the technology that automakers had agreed to use.

In a statement, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, the industry’s main lobbying group, did not endorse or oppose the proposed rule, calling automatic braking a “breakthrough technology” that automakers “have already deployed.”

Automatic braking is one component of advanced driver-assistance systems that are found in some new cars. These systems are capable of steering without human intervention and, in some cases, changing lanes and allowing drivers to take their hands off the wheel on highways. These systems include Tesla’s Autopilot, Super Cruise by General Motors and BlueCruise from Ford Motor.

The federal safety agency has been investigating Tesla’s system after it appears to have failed to identify and spot other vehicles in some situations. The agency is looking at 43 crashes, including 14 in which 18 people were killed, that occurred while Autopilot or another system that the company calls Full Self-Driving were activated.

It could take a few years before the rules go into effect.

The safety agency will take comments on the rule from automakers, safety groups and the public before making it final — a process that can take a year or more. The rule will go into effect three years after it is adopted.

On Tuesday, President Biden withdrew the nomination of Ann E. Carlson to lead the agency. Some Republican senators had opposed her appointment because of her past work on environmental policy. Previously a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, Ms. Carlson has been the agency’s acting administrator since September.