By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A group representing major automakers said on Friday it has filed a lawsuit to block a landmark rule from President Joe Biden’s administration that would require nearly all new cars and truck in 2029 with advanced automatic emergency braking systems.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, representing General Motors (NYSE:), Toyota Motor (NYSE: ), Volkswagen (ETR: ) and other automakers, said the rule finalized in April by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is “practically impossible with available technology.”

The group asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to overturn the rule.

NHTSA declined to comment.

The alliance says the requirement that cars and trucks must be able to stop and avoid speeding vehicles in front of them at up to 62 miles per hour (100 kph) is unrealistic, and it has unsuccessfully requested the NHTSA last year reconsidered the rule.

The new safety rule is one of the most far-reaching auto-safety regulations in the US in recent years. NHTSA said in April that the rule would save at least 360 lives each year and prevent at least 24,000 injuries as traffic deaths rise after the pandemic.

Alliance CEO John Bozzella called the decision “wrong on the merits. Wrong on the science. Really a damning decision.”

Bozzella wrote in November to President-elect Donald Trump, urging him to reconsider the regulation.

Congress directed NHTSA in the 2021 infrastructure law to establish minimum performance standards for automatic emergency braking systems, which use sensors such as cameras and radar to determine if a vehicle is vehicle is about to crash and then automatically applies the brakes if the driver has not already done so.

In 2016, 20 automakers voluntarily agreed to make automatic emergency braking standard on nearly all US vehicles by 2022. By late 2023, all 20 will have equipped at least 95% of vehicles with AEB, but critics say there is no way to ensure effectiveness without government. regulations.

The NHTSA in May 2023 proposed requiring vehicles to comply in three years, but automakers are now getting five years.