As low-tech terror attacks become more common, a high-tech invention could prevent them from being so deadly.
Autonomous emergency braking (AEB), invented to prevent rear-end collisions, could be used to save lives in the case of terror attacks using vehicles of the kind seen in Nice, Berlin, and most recently in London.
Bloomberg reports the technology reduces rear-end collisions by 38 percent. It also can stop the vehicle before it hits a pedestrian, though it can be ignored until a collision as was the case in the Berlin attack, which involved a truck equipped with AEB.
Current European regulations required all vehicles after 2015 to come equipped with AEB. American auto manufacturers have until 2022 to abide by a similar rule. In both cases, however, the technology can be ignored as they would if the driver intended to cause harm.
Tweaks to the technology, however, can be made for enhanced safety. AEB can be updated to use the full range of sensors that come with most modern vehicles, predicting a collision without an override option and prevent a car from being used as a weapon.
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