How important are advanced emergency braking systems?

• Advanced emergency braking systems are proactive driver assistance systems that warn the driver of potential collisions and independently initiate emergency braking if necessary. They can particularly help to avoid rear-end collisions with heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).
• Use of advanced emergency braking systems depends on the vehicle category and design. Introduction of such systems in the EU began in November 2013 and was concluded in November 2018. Since then, advanced emergency braking systems have been mandatory across the EU for certain HGVs and buses (new vehicles and new types).

What is the Federal Ministry of Transport doing?

• For the Federal Ministry of Transport, road safety is a top priority.
  
  
• That is why the Ministry has been advocating the use of the potential offered by advanced emergency braking systems for many years. The goal is to continuously improve the systems and make them more effective:
  
  
  
  • An important starting point for improving protection against vehicle collisions and rear-end collisions is the adjustment of technical requirements for advanced emergency braking systems – particularly regarding their performance. This has also been confirmed by the findings of scientific studies conducted by the Federal Highway and Transport Research Institute (BASt).
    
    
  • Based on the Federal Ministry of Transport’s initiative to impose stricter requirements on driver assistance systems for HGVs, buses and coaches, new standards for advanced emergency braking assistance were adopted at UNECE level in July 2022. The guidelines developed by an international group of experts under German and Japanese leadership take into account the latest advancements in emergency braking systems. These new guidelines will make the systems even safer and more effective.
    
    The new series of amendments to UN Regulation No 131-02 requires collision avoidance up to a driving speed of 70 km/h, even for stationary vehicles, thereby bringing the requirements in line with the current state of the art.
    
    Systems must now function up to the maximum speed; even when travelling at full speed (up to 90 km/h for HGVs), the impact speed must not exceed 42 km/h. This can significantly reduce the severity of collisions at the end of a tailback – even when HGVs are travelling at maximum speed.
    
    In addition, the possibility to disable advanced emergency braking systems is now considerably restricted. For example, once disabled, the systems must be automatically reactivated after 15 minutes. Driving without assistance for an extended period is now only possible in exceptional cases.
    
    For the first time, assistance systems must also respond to pedestrians and prevent accidents in typical situations at speeds of up to 20
    
    What is more, the provision has been revised to require much more robust systems which can function in realistic situations – not just on test sites. This means that it is no longer possible to optimize vehicles for specific test cases. Unlike previous amendment series (UN R131-00, UN R131-01), the Regulation now allows hard automatic braking even if the driver has not yet been warned by a corresponding system. This is important, for example, if the situation suddenly worsens because vehicles ahead are braking sharply.

The amendments have applied to new vehicle types since September 2025 under international law at UN level and will apply to all new to all new vehicles from September 2028. Vehicle manufacturers may generally apply these new requirements as soon as they take effect at UN level and can thus decide to bring improved systems to market earlier.

The integration of the new series of amendments to Regulation (UN) No. 131-02 into the European Framework Directive is currently under way and is expected to be completed by the end of 2026 through an amendment to the General Safety Regulation (EU) 2019/2144.

Applicable international rules:

• Vehicle type approval for passenger cars, HGVs, buses and coaches has been harmonized throughout the EU.
• The EU type-approval regulations (either Directive 2007/46/EC or Regulation (EU) 2018/858, depending on the date of approval) have established a harmonized framework comprising administrative provisions and general technical requirements for the approval of all new vehicles falling within their scope, as well as the systems, components, and separate technical units. This Directive or Regulation must be applied in a binding manner in all EU Member States.
• To implement these type-approval regulations, specific technical requirements for the construction and operation of vehicles are laid down in legal acts. Therefore, in addition to the relevant EU legal acts, certain UN regulations also apply within the framework of EU type approval. Annex IV of Directive 2007/46/EC and Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2018/858 each contain a complete list of these legal acts. Regulation (EC) No. 661/2009 and Regulation (EU) 2019/2144 lay down the applicable amendment series for the respective technical requirements.
• Regulation (EC) No 661/2009 already made advanced emergency braking systems mandatory for certain HGVs and certain buses and coaches (vehicles of classes N2, N3, M2, and M3).
• Since 1 November 2013, advanced emergency braking systems have been introduced gradually for new vehicle types of the categories mentioned – using a fixed timetable scheme depending on vehicle category and design. The introduction was concluded on 1 November 2018.
• Due to the technical advances made in highly developed vehicle safety systems, new possibilities will be opened up to further reduce the number of road accidents.
  Therefore, in the future, passenger cars and light commercial vehicles will have to be equipped with advanced emergency braking systems as well. On 5 January 2020, EU Regulation No 2019/2144 on general safety and the protection of vehicle occupants and vulnerable road users entered into force. Since 6 July 2022, the Regulation has to be applied in all EU Member States. More information on this topic can be found here.

Additional information:

• Since 2017, the Federal Ministry of Transport has already introduced several proposals to adapt UN Regulation No 131 – Uniform provisions concerning the approval of motor vehicles regarding Advanced Emergency Braking Systems (AEBS).
• The Federal Ministry of Transport has actively contributed the findings of the completed BASt research project to international discussions and has thereby succeeded in tightening the technical requirements for HGV emergency braking systems within international working groups, particularly the newly established expert group under German leadership.