(Bloomberg) -- Rising fatal car crash numbers in recent years have prompted US authorities to issue a new mandate that will require carmakers to install automatic emergency braking systems on new vehicles beginning in 2029.

The rule, aimed at reducing roadway deaths, requires that automatic braking technology on passenger cars and light trucks kick in to prevent a crash at speeds as fast as 62 miles (100 kilometers) per hour, according to a statement Monday from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 

It comes after the agency recently estimated that 40,990 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2023, after reaching a 16-year high of 42,915 deaths in 2021.

US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement the automatic braking mandate “will save hundreds of lives.”

Carmakers had argued NHTSA rules requiring cars equipped with automatic brakes be capable of completely avoiding contact with objects or people at high speeds “is not practicable and increases the potential for unintended consequences.” The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which lobbies for most major automakers, said it could support a realistic automatic braking mandate.  

“Automakers know it can help save lives and prevent injuries on the roads, so they voluntarily committed to install AEB in new vehicles and have already met that commitment,” the group’s president, John Bozzella, said in a statement.

Braking systems will also have to be capable of detecting pedestrians in both daylight and darkness, according to the new rule. They would have to stop at speeds up to 90 mph when a rear-end crash is imminent, and 45 mph when a pedestrian is detected.

(Updates with crash data and carmaker lobbying group’s reaction starting in third paragraph)

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