Reflective clothing proved invisible to automatic braking systems in IIHS study

By: Volodymyr Kolominov | 15.01.2025, 13:21
Night testing: how autonomous systems respond to pedestrians in different clothing Investigation of the effectiveness of automatic emergency braking of pedestrians at night under different road illumination and pedestrian clothing conditions. Source: IIHS

A new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has revealed an anomaly in the way automatic emergency braking systems for cars work at night. It appears that some systems cannot detect pedestrians wearing clothing specifically designed to make them visible in the dark.

Here's What We Know

Three 2023 model year vehicles took part in the test: the Honda CR-V, Mazda CX-5 and Subaru Forester. The cars were tested for their ability to recognise pedestrians in different clothing at 25 mph (40 km/h) and different light levels.

The Honda and Mazda crashed into the vast majority of dummies, regardless of their clothing. The addition of reflective strips had no effect on the effectiveness of the recognition system. However, when the dummy was wearing black clothing, the cars conversely began to slow down as they approached.

Different lighting scenarios produced different results. For example, the CX-5 slowed down much more with 10 lux of additional lighting in the area. However, it performed much worse when increased to 20 lux. Meanwhile, Subaru avoided collisions with pedestrian dummies in all but one test. Ironically, the only mishap occurred with a dummy that was wearing reflective clothing.

The IIHS Institute has found no answer as to why this happens. A full study of automatic braking systems at night, taking into account lighting and clothing, is available on the IIHS website.

Source: IIHS