Thatcham Research’s chief executive Peter Shaw comments: “We fully support the European Parliament in its call for standard fitment of key car safety technologies like Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB). The imperative now is for the European Commission to publish its proposals and to enshrine it in a binding agreement supported by the UK Government.

“Autonomous Emergency Braking can lead to a 38% reduction in real-world, rear-end accidents, but with just 30% of new vehicles currently on sale in the UK having AEB as standard, it seems that only through legislation will we be able to ensure that lifesaving technologies such as AEB or speed adaptation systems will become standard.”