The world’s largest mechanical lobby said Friday it’s suing the Biden administration over a fresh automatic emergency braking law adopted last year.
The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents all key U. S. oems except for Tesla Inc., filed the complaint in the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit against the U. S. Transportation Department. It takes issue with a common in the laws that requires all new vehicles by 2029 be able to prevent and minimize contact with a car in front of them at up to 62 miles per hour. Car Innovators CEO John Bozzella last month called the condition “practically difficult”.
” This litigation by Alliance for Automotive Innovation , if not , be interpreted as opposition to AEB, a lack of trust in the technology, or an issue to AEB’s widest possible implementation across the U. S. car fleet”, the firm wrote in a news release. ” Rather, this dispute is about ensuring a law that maximizes vehicle and pedestrian protection and is technologically possible”.
The industry has invested more than$ 1 billion developing automatic emergency braking, which helps detect potential collisions with vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. AEB provides a reminder to a vehicle and automatically engages the braking system if the driver not answer.
In 2016, big manufacturers agreed to move out AEB on every new car by 2025, which Auto Innovators says has happened.
But the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration formalized a law concerning the tech next April that included the no-contact condition. In June, Auto Innovators petitioned for revision, with Bozzella noting in a letter to Congress at the time that NHTSA’s information showed one tested car met the limiting range requirements in the last rule. The company denied the request in November.
In a statement, NHTSA said it usually doesn’t comment on pending dispute.
In the last AEB rule, the agency wrote:” NHTSA believes that lowering the performance requirement to one that allows for contact may fail to address safety as the leading factor for this last rule and then be inconsistent with the goals of the Safety Act”.
Several stakeholders did support the no-contact requirements. In a statement, product testing nonprofit Consumer Reports said many AEB systems don’t reliably perform at higher speeds or operate effectively to protect pedestrians at night.
” It is profoundly disappointing that automakers are suing to block this lifesaving automatic emergency braking rule”, William Wallace, Consume Reports ‘ safety advocacy director, said in a statement. ” AEB performance among new vehicle models is uneven. This rule is needed because everyone on our roads should be able to benefit from automatic emergency braking systems that meet reasonable minimum standards.
” People should be able to trust that if their car has AEB,” Wallace continued”, it will work reliably at various speeds, during the day and at night, and when it detects a pedestrian. NHTSA already has shown it is feasible today to meet this baseline, yet the agency still gave automakers five full years of lead time to bring lower-performing AEB systems into compliance.”
Additionally, Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, added in a statement that as autonomous vehicle technology progresses, vehicles must have the capability to be able to brake at all speeds and in all kinds of conditions.
” The AEB Rule is , the most impactful regulation for roadway safety issued in years,” she said, adding that with the size and wealth of the auto industry”, it is remarkable that it would be unable to meet the requirements in the AEB Rule by , September  , 2029.”
Auto Innovators in the news release noted that it believes it is the prerogative of the incoming Trump administration to repeal or revise the AEB rule.
The Transportation Department has 40 days to submit the administrative record to the D. C. Circuit. The court will then set a briefing schedule.
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