There has been a lot of coverage in the news about automatic/autonomous braking systems. The newspaper and magazine articles are heralding the new systems as the greatest thing since the seat belt. Most of the journalists need a reality check. These systems are on some 2014 cars, but only work at lower speeds and still leave a lot up to the driver and the manufacturers’ legal departments.

The pedestrian systems operate at only at speeds below 22 mph for the Volvo and 30 mph for the Mercedes Benz. These systems can be thrown off by a extremely short person under 31-inches tall or a pedestrian carrying a large shopping bag. Volvo also warns that rain, snow or low sun might prevent the system from recognizing something in the road. This is not the future. These are just barely functional systems restricted more by lawyers than available technology.

Why don’t these systems take over and stop the car if they can react faster? Simple, no automaker wants to be responsible for a life and death decision, it would expose them to liabilities that would make stockholders cringe and class act attorneys very excited.