Automatic braking systems save lives. Now they’ll need to work at 62 MPH

On a related note, I've always wondered if straight ahead 60 to 0 braking tests were relevant to anything. Not many accidents happen where a driver is just unable to completely stop and end up hitting the other car at 10 mph.

I would think the insurance companies could come up with a better braking test, like 60 to 40 with a swerve, where the suspension response factors in as well as both tire lateral and longitudinal grip.

You get a bunch of accidents where traffic has stopped and people just keep slamming into the back of the stopped vehicles, then more into the back of those, and more into the back of those and so on. It happens.

A 60 to 0 braking test gives you a floor on the braking distance.

You've got to add safety factors from there. Reaction time, road conditions, vehicle condition, steering inputs, etc.

But also, a brake test with a swerve is going to be a lot less repeatable, because the driver input is more complex.

I agree that more complicated tests are useful but you do get a lot of deaths where someone is cruising down the road and doesn’t see a stop sign, pedestrian, bicyclist, etc. and those are quite deadly due to that speed differential. Cell phones also make it more common for people to rear-end cars in simple usage, too.