The Effect of Autonomous Emergency Braking Systems on Head Impact Conditions for Pedestrian and Cyclists in Passenger Car Collisions

Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems will play an essential role in protecting vulnerable road users (VRU) in the near future. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of AEB systems on head impact conditions for pedestrians and cyclists.
The effect of a generic AEB system on collision velocities was evaluated through pre-crash simulation of real-world accidents. The differences in head impact conditions (impact points, angle and velocity) were evaluated by impact simulations using Human Body Models and generic vehicle models representing the current European SUV and family car fleet.
This study examines how the collision speed in pedestrian and cyclist to passenger car collisions is likely to be reduced by roughly one-third by use of AEB systems. This resulted in drastically lower head impact locations, angles and velocities. It was also shown that there are several impacts above the area of Wrap-around Distance 2100 mm when considering current collision velocities. However, for reduced collision velocities due to AEB systems, nearly no impact in the area above 2100 mm can be observed.
New, holistic VRU-protection assessment methods that take into account active and passive safety measures are needed to cover different impact conditions of body regions resulting from different collision speeds.