Photo/Illutration An automatic braking system is tested at night using pedestrian dummies. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The government plans to require all new car models to have automatic braking systems from fiscal 2021 to meet international standards and to help prevent accidents caused by elderly drivers.

The new policy will cover ordinary passenger cars as well as minicars and minitrucks, and the requirement will likely be expanded to existing car models in subsequent years.

Requirements for automatic braking systems have gradually been applied to large trucks and buses since 2014.

The government in June indicated that it would present its conclusion about automatic braking system standards and requirements for new cars before the end of the year.

The new standards will be included in a revised notification that has been issued by the transport ministry.

The automatic braking system requirement will be in line with three standards set in June by a United Nations committee of experts.

The automatic braking system should be able to: stop a vehicle traveling at 40 kph in time to prevent it from rear-ending an idle vehicle; slow a vehicle traveling at 60 kph so it does not collide with a car in front traveling at 20 kph; and halt a vehicle traveling at 30 kph before it hits a pedestrian crossing in front of the car and walking at a speed of 5 kph.

In all three cases, the brakes would be applied at a point from which impact would occur in four seconds if nothing is done.

A domestic certification program for automatic braking systems started in March 2018, but it was based on more lenient standards because it did not cover possible collisions with pedestrians.

The ratio of vehicles that have automatic braking systems has been rising annually in Japan.

In 2018, 84.6 percent of new cars sold had such systems installed. But the performance differed according to the manufacturer and car model, meaning that not all vehicles met the standards set in the domestic certification program.

A transport ministry source said more expensive car models tend to have automatic braking systems that meet international standards. However, reaching such standards for all models would be difficult because of the costs involved in installing the technology in cheaper vehicles.

For those reasons, the government plans to first apply the requirement to new car models because it will be easier for manufacturers to improve capabilities before any cars roll off the assembly line.