(Bloomberg) -- Twenty major automakers will announce avoluntarily agreement to equip cars and trucks with automaticemergency-braking systems designed to detect and prevent crasheswithout driver action, according to two people familiar with thematter.

The agreement, expected to be announced Thursday, will specifythat almost all U.S. cars and trucks will include the technology by2022, said two other people who have been briefed on theannouncement.

The U.S. Transportation Department and the insurance industryhave been in talks since last year on voluntary commitments thatwould cover most new models. Automatic emergency brakingsystems use radar or other sensors to detect animminent crash and, if needed, engage the brakes to avoid orminimize the impact of a rear-end collision.

The systems are designed to respond quicker than human reflexesin a crash situation. Human error is responsible for 94% of alltraffic crashes, according to the National Highway TrafficSafety Administration.

In September, only nine automakers were participating in thetalks: General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Toyota Motor Corp.,Tesla Motors Inc., BMW AG, Daimler AG, Mazda Motor Corp., VolvoCars and Volkswagen AG.

Autonomous cars

Automatic emergency braking is one of the biggest recent safetybreakthroughs, reducing the likelihood of rear-end collisions by upto 40%, according to Jake Fisher, director of automotivetesting at Consumer Reports magazine. It’s an important step towardcars becoming autonomous, he said.

The magazine, which influences consumers and manufacturers alikewith auto ratings, changed its scoring system to give extra creditfor models that come with emergency braking as a standard feature.Too often, automakers have been forcing car buyers to pay extra forthe systems, and so only a small percentage of cars sold currentlyare being equipped with the potentially life-saving technology,Fisher said.

“We have really pushed for this to be standard equipment,”Fisher said. “Making it optional isn’t enough.”

New features

Automakers will need to roll out a host of otherautonomous-driving features in their fleets in the coming years tostay competitive, said Karl Brauer, senior analyst with Kelley BlueBook, a car-buying information website.

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“The incremental cost of adding these high-tech driver aids isdropping every year, which is good for automakers because consumersare quickly coming to expect them, even on lower-prices models,”Brauer said.

The announcement will be made at the Federal Highway Administration test track inMcLean, Virginia. Mark Rosekind, head of NHTSA, and representativesfrom several car companies and the Insurance Institute for HighwaySafety are expected to attend.

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