Autonomous Emergency Braking mandated on new cars from 2023

The Federal Government has made it a legal requirement for newly introduced light passenger and commercial vehicles (including utes and vans with a GVM of 3.5 tonnes or less) to have Autonomous Emergency Braking technology as early as 2023.

The laws will be enforced progressively, applying only to new models introduced to the local market from March 2023. Then after March 2025, all new passenger and light commercial vehicles sold will need vehicle-to-vehicle AEB.

Following this, vehicle-to-pedestrian AEB will then also be mandated on newly introduced models from August 2024, before applying to all new vehicles from August 2026.

3

Independent safety watchdog Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has welcomed the news, after advocating for regulation on standard fitment AEB since 2012.

ANCAP’s push to assess active safety technology as part of its industry-standard safety testing system from 2015 has driven manufacturers to fit AEB as standard equipment. It says 89.5 per cent of new light vehicles were fitted with AEB as standard as of June.

Anticipation for the legislation increased in October 2020 when the Federal Government issued its Regulation Impact Statement.

It proposed following Europe to enforce mandatory AEB on newly introduced models and then all new cars sold, respectively, from July 2022 and July 2024. Australia will lag Europe on the legislation change by nine months.

Introduced through Australian Design Rule 98/00 and ADR 98/01, the new laws were drafted by Nationals MP Kevin Hogan before being federally registered on Friday (November 5).

3

It’s a win for Australian road safety, with ANCAP sharing American and Australian reports that found AEB can reduce police-reported crashes by more than half and vehicle occupant trauma by almost a third.

The Government also estimates the changes will save the local economy $1.9 billion and 580 lives, while avoiding 93,740 injuries over 35 years.

But the laws could increase some vehicle prices if manufacturers pass on the equipment cost to the consumer. For instance, the $17,990 drive-away price of the MG 3 Core, one of the market’s cheapest and the light-car segment’s most popular cars, is not offered with AEB.