In recent years, with the increasing intelligent configuration of automobiles, AEB this configuration seems to have been often mentioned. However, recently, because Li Xiang, founder and chairman of Ideal Automobile, proposed that "all cars have AEB functions as standard", and won the approval of many parties, including Miao Wei, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, AEB returned to the focus of public opinion.
Low-key "getting on the car", the AEB assembly rate gradually increased
AEB, full name Autonomic Emergency Braking, is also known as active emergency braking system. This is an active safety configuration of the car, which can use radar to measure the distance of the vehicle in front of it or obstacles, and compare the distance with the alarm distance and the safety distance according to the data analysis, so as to make an alarm prompt and brake by itself. Data prove that AEB-equipped cars can reduce accident rates by 27%, rear-end collision rates by 38%, and significantly reduce accident casualties.
It is also for the sake of improving safety that many models choose to be equipped with AEB. If the vehicles equipped with AEB five years ago were still a "niche group", this camp has long grown and continues to expand. According to The Gestache Automobile, whether it is the ideal L9 that will be launched within this year, or the popular models such as the M5 and the Tank 500 that have been recently listed, they are equipped with AEB.
Ideal L9; Image source: Ideal Car
A few days ago, Ideal Auto said that due to the impact of force majeure of the epidemic, the Ideal L9 conference originally scheduled for April 16 will be postponed. However, before that, Ideal Auto has successively announced new car information. According to this, the ideal L9 will be equipped with the flagship self-developed flagship intelligent driving system Ideal AD Max as standard, and the perception, decision-making, planning and control software are all full-stack self-developed. At the control level, the AEB automatic emergency braking function of the model is optimized for China's road conditions, enhancing the identification of pedestrians and two-wheelers, which can effectively reduce the incidence of traffic accidents, and can also achieve rapid iteration through full-stack self-research capabilities.
It is worth noting that Ideal Car recently made it clear that all models on sale and in the future will be equipped with AEB as standard, and will continue to optimize AEB performance through OTAs in the future.
The M5, which opened nationwide large-scale delivery in early March this year, is also an AEB "user". It is reported that the M5 is not equipped with Huawei's well-known high-level assisted driving hardware system, but adopts a conventional L2 level assisted driving configuration. The current configuration supports ACC adaptive cruise, AEB emergency braking, FCW collision warning, BSW blind spot monitoring, DMS driver monitoring, and APA automatic parking.
The Tank 500, which was launched in late March, did not fall behind the AEB. According to the data, the tank 500 is equipped with LED headlights, automatic headlights, electric side pedals, electric suction rear tailgate, ACC adaptive cruise, AEB automatic emergency braking (with pedestrian identification), BSD blind spot detection + parallel assist system LCA, DOW door opening warning, off-road cruise control, etc.
Tank 500; Image source: Great Wall Motors
BYD Marine's first sedan, the DM-i Super Hybrid Technology Exclusive Series Warship Series, the Destroyer 05, was also officially launched in late March. It is reported that in terms of safety configuration, the destroyer 05 is equipped with LKS active lane keeping system, LDWS lane departure warning system, AEB-CCR automatic emergency braking system, AEB-VRU pedestrian identification/protection system, EBSS emergency brake warning system, BSD blind spot monitoring system and many other configurations on the 55KM premium and 120KM flagship models.
In short, more and more models are beginning to be equipped with AEB. Relevant data show that the AEB assembly rate of new passenger cars in the Chinese auto market in 2020 has exceeded 30%, an increase of more than 50% over the previous year. Entering 2021, the penetration rate of AEB's new cars has further increased on the previous basis.
Under the influence of cost, safety and other issues, AEB standard equipment is still far away
As far as the Chinese auto market is concerned, the increase in AEB assembly rate is beyond doubt, but it is still far from achieving standard equipment.
It should be known that compared with the major overseas auto markets or overseas car companies, the AEB assembly rate of passenger cars in mainland China is still relatively low. According to NHTSA data, as early as 2020, the AEB assembly rate of new cars such as Tesla, Volvo, BMW, and Audi in the United States has reached more than 98%, and the AEB assembly rate of Toyota's new cars in the United States has also reached 97%.
Ciccumference's "Millimeter Wave Radar: Technological Upgrades, Embracing Intelligence and Another Spring" released last year clearly mentioned that the assembly rate of mainland passenger cars AEB is still relatively low, and it is mainly concentrated in high-end models, and there is still a lot of room for improvement.
This is true. Although AEB has now appeared not only in luxury cars, but also in the loading rate of non-luxury brands, it can be seen that most of the models equipped with AEB today are still mostly mid-to-high-end models.
From the price of the models mentioned above, the price range of the ideal L9 is 450,000-500,000 yuan, the price of the tank 500 is 335,000-395,000 yuan, the standard version of the M5 after-drive is priced from 249,800 yuan, the four-wheel drive performance version is priced from 279,800 yuan, and the top four-wheel drive flagship version is priced at 319,800 yuan.
In contrast, the price of the destroyer 05 is low, with a price range of 119,800 to 155,800 yuan, but it is worth noting that the car does not come standard with AEB, and only its high-end models have this configuration. Today, this model is more used in low-priced models, that is, AEB is equipped in high-end models, such as the recently listed Trumpchi GS3 POWER, which is only equipped with AEB in its Jinzhi version.
Trumpchi GS3 POWER Jinzhi Edition is equipped with AEB; image source: GAC Trumpchi
To some extent, this shows that in the process of AEB moving towards standard, the cost problem is still "dragging its feet". Analysts at the Gesta automotive research institute also bluntly said that the main factor affecting AEB standard equipment is the cost problem.
In addition, Gaz Auto noted that when the news that Ideal Auto announced that all its future models were equipped with AEB as soon as it came out, many netizens raised the question of "whether to increase the price", which shows that consumers are very concerned about "whether AEB needs to pay for itself". However, even if the "cost" and "mark-up" problems are left behind, the relevant security issues may also make some consumers have some scruples about this configuration.
As mentioned above, AEB can effectively reduce the incidence of traffic accidents, and there is a consensus inside and outside the industry. However, AEB is not 100% secure.
Tesla can be described as AEB's "veteran player". According to the data, since the Autopilot 1.0 in 2014 began to be installed on the Model S car, the AEB system has been inseparable from every Tesla car. But even so, it has also been exploded AEB failure.
Not only that, but it is pointed out that the AEB models that have been equipped at present are very beautiful in data, but the level of real use is uneven. There are even some car owners who rely too much on it, which leads to accidents.
In addition, recalls due to AEB-related issues have also occurred occasionally. Volvo, for example, conducted a vehicle recall in 2020 due to AEB issues. The reason for the recall is that in some cases the AEB emergency braking system of these models may not work properly and cannot achieve emergency braking of the vehicle (Note: there was no accident due to this problem before the recall).
Of course, there are still relevant standards and regulations that have yet to be improved. Some insiders pointed out that the current relevant industry standards are more hardware-level, in China, AEB trigger mechanism, software calibration, etc. there is no real standard.
Standard AEB is the trend of the times, and the relevant conditions are being improved
AEB standard is still the trend of the times.
As we all know, the need to improve the safety of smart cars is becoming more and more urgent. In Miao Wei's view, if the new energy vehicle is compared to the first half, and the intelligent networked car is compared to the second half, the Chinese automotive industry has achieved great results in the first half, but the decision to win or lose is still in the second half. At the same time, he also mentioned that safety is the premise of the development of intelligent and connected vehicles.
Miao Wei, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; Image source: China Electric Vehicle 100 Association
Analysts at the Gaz Automotive Research Institute said that AEB is one of the most basic and practical functions of ADAS, other functions bring more comfort and convenience, and AEB brings safety to drivers and pedestrians.
In fact, as a very important function in the L2 level automatic driving assistance system, AEB can ensure active safety, in the case of eligibility, the driver does not take any measures in the face of crisis situations, the machine can make emergency actions autonomously, and is even regarded as the core element of assisted driving. Other experts pointed out that AEB can be described as a standard step in the evolution of intelligent driving from L2 to L3.
Since AEB standard equipment is necessary, the next focus is on solving many of the problems mentioned above. In this regard, the gestapo automotive research institute analysts believe that to promote AEB standard, on the one hand, to solve the cost problem, which requires the localization of the components of the AEB system, on the other hand, to solve the security problems, the current AEB can not guarantee 100% identification, coverage scenarios need to be continuously expanded.
From the actual situation, the localization of AEB has made good progress in recent years. It is reported that the L1-L2 level ADAS solutions equipped with new cars in the Chinese market were mainly provided by foreign-funded companies, but now many car companies are equipped with domestic suppliers and self-developed solutions. With the advancement of localization, the related costs are expected to be further optimized.
At the same time, many car companies and suppliers are trying their best to promote the improvement of AEB technology. Among them, the ideal car is worth mentioning.
As mentioned earlier, the ideal car is now a self-developed AEB. Relevant information shows that when the 2021 ideal ONE equipped with the self-developed AEB system was just launched, its level was not as good as the 2020 ideal ONE equipped with the AEB system provided by the supplier. However, in just three months, ideal car, with the advantage of closed-loop data, carried out a series of code rewriting and testing for domestic roads, and made AEB products that were more in line with domestic traffic conditions.
It is reported that when most car companies are still using millimeter radar waves, ideal cars have adopted a combination of millimeter wave radar + visual fusion, and AEB introduces vision, which can better realize the detection of pedestrians and cyclists and ensure pedestrian safety.
In addition, the analysts of the Gaz Automotive Research Institute also mentioned that AEB in the field of commercial vehicles has gradually passed relevant regulations, and the comprehensive promotion of the passenger car field also needs the support of relevant laws and regulations.
Previously, major national and regional governments have drawn up a timetable for the full standard AEB, and China has landed a number of policies to force commercial vehicles to be equipped with ADAS systems. Combing through the policies of various countries, we can see that the coverage of mandatory policies in Japan and European countries has been gradually expanded from commercial vehicles to the field of passenger cars, and there is a clear mandatory time point. In recent years, China has also introduced a large number of policies aimed at forcing commercial vehicles to carry ADAS systems. At the same time, national standards for passenger cars have also been put on the agenda.
Therefore, from a comprehensive point of view, although the current mainland automobile market is still far from achieving AEB standards, with the gradual improvement of relevant conditions such as technology and regulations, the relevant progress is expected to accelerate.