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VW Up Emergency Braking System test-driven in video

Speed demon Andrew Hoyle goes hands-on with the VW Up Emergency Braking System in this not-so-fast-and-furious video.

Katie Collins Senior European Correspondent
Katie a UK-based news reporter and features writer. Officially, she is CNET's European correspondent, covering tech policy and Big Tech in the EU and UK. Unofficially, she serves as CNET's Taylor Swift correspondent. You can also find her writing about tech for good, ethics and human rights, the climate crisis, robots, travel and digital culture. She was once described a "living synth" by London's Evening Standard for having a microchip injected into her hand.
Katie Collins
Watch this: VW Up hands-on

Speed demon Andrew Hoyle visited The Gadget Show Live in Birmingham this week, where he went hands-on with the VW Up Emergency Braking System. Take a look at the video above to be taught a lesson in how to aufhalten, Volkswagen-style.

The system works by projecting invisible 10m laser beams out of the front of the car. If the laser beams bump into or encounter any objects in their way, the car will automatically be brought to a full stop.

For the system to operate properly, it can cope with speeds of up to 19mph. It sounds ideal for preventing bumps in those infuriating slow-moving traffic jams and protecting pedestrians at zebra crossings, but it won't detect road junctions and traffic lights, so it's no excuse for taking your eye off the road completely.

To see the VW Up system in action and to check out Andrew's ropey sweet driving skills, hit play on the video above.

What do you make of this kind of in-car safety technology? Let me know in the comments below, or hitch a ride over to our Facebook page. Drive safely friends, and remember your highway code.