The technology typically use sensors, radars, lasers and cameras to determine if you're about to collide with other vehicles or objects. It then automatically hits the brakes if you react too slowly. Back in 2012, the European Union passed a legislation that requires new cars to have AEB. The corporations involved in this project agreed to make the pact on their own, though. And that, the NHTSA believes, will make automatic emergency braking a standard feature "three years faster than could be achieved through the formal regulatory process." Within those three years, it could prevent up to 28,000 crashes and 12,000 injuries, based on data from the IIHS.

The twenty automakers are:

Audi

BMW

FCA US LLC

Ford

General Motors

Honda

Hyundai

Jaguar Land Rover

Kia

Maserati

Mazda

Mercedes-Benz

Mitsubishi Motors

Nissan

Porsche

Subaru

Tesla Motors Inc.

Toyota

Volkswagen

Volvo Car USA

Under the agreement, all vehicles that weigh 8,500 pounds and below, such as cars and average pick-up trucks, are required to have auto braking systems by September 1st, 2022. The companies will have a bit more time to adapt the technology for anything heavier than that, though: the deadline for vehicles that weigh 8,501 to 10,000 pounds is September 1st, 2025.