WOW. Volvo has developed a new automated emergency braking system for their recently-rolled-out FH trucks, which you have to take a look at in this quick video—and if it doesn't seem impressive from the external camera shots, wait 'til you see the view from the driver's seat:

Crazy, no? You can see the guy is doing 60 k.p.h., not quite highway speeds, but still a decent clip—and the truck is laden with a 40-ton load! As he comes up on the car I got that oh shit stomach-clench and thought for sure he'd pancake it, even though I knew I was just watching the same footage from a different angle.

So how does it work, and what steps did Volvo engineers take to prevent the car behind you from slamming into you? Here's an animation:

While I'm not convinced the flashing taillights will be enough to warn a following motorist of the sudden stop, I guess they can't exactly install one of these.

The EU has ruled that emergency braking systems will be a legal requirement by November 2015; Volvo's got a good head start with their FH. (For more on the FH, we took a look at the design process behind it earlier this year.)