Active Brake Assist: Full braking in hazardous situations

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Whoever drives 40 tons along the roads of Europe or conveys passengers in a touring coach should not trust his skills and good fortune alone, but rather the new Active Brake Assist. This system operates with three radar beams, which scan a field of 7 to 150 meters ahead of the truck or bus and constantly determine the difference in speed to the vehicle in front.

If the course taken by the driver would lead to an accident, he is initially given a visual alert in the form of a warning triangle illuminated in red, and then an acoustic signal. If the situation becomes more acute, the system reacts with a partial braking maneuver; if necessary, it then automatically initiates emergency braking with precisely metered braking force. While Active Brake Assist cannot always prevent a rear-end collision, the emergency braking considerably reduces the speed of impact, thus mitigating the consequences of the accident.

Enlarge Active Brake Assist (ABA) – which has already been available for two years in the Mercedes-Benz Actros, during which time it has proved its worth over more than 350 million kilometers in operation with customers – celebrated its premiere at the 2008 IAA in the Mercedes-Benz Travego and Setra TopClass 400 premium touring coaches. In this case, the technology takes consideration of the passengers by increasing the braking force only gently. This assistance system is currently offered in no other bus in the world.