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Comment by WXLCKNO | Hacker News Reader

Got a new M340i a month ago, first day driving it I get cut off by some 90 year old in a buick who didn't want to miss his turn. Was really glad to have automatic braking, by the time my foot had lifted off the gas it was already braking.

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Such a great feature, both of my last cars had this "presense" breaking. I was never really in a situation where it was critical, but the feeling that the breaks are already in a ready state (touch it slightly and you knew a little bit more will do hard breaking instead of going all the way) when I was touching it felt pretty reassuring and a little magic at the same time.

There's also a more basic version of something like this in older cars, "emergency brake assist", which senses a hard application of the brakes (determining from the nature of how the pedal is pressed) and applies full brakes.

Apparently most drivers don't actually apply the brakes fully when emergency braking, so this helps with that.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_brake_assist

This sounds great, except it just encourages other drivers on the road to drive even more aggressively. They begin to realize that drivers will either voluntary brake or the automatic braking will do it. The net of this becomes a loss, because roads actually become more dangerous.

Good to know. My 440i has warned a few times, but never triggered. Looks like BMW has calibrated it pretty well.

Yeah I think so, I've gotten the warning as well when someone cut in at a slower speed but this time it definitely felt like it saved the situation because it knew it needed to.

It should be mandatory on all new vehicles

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