In 2004 Mercedes-Benz faced customers complaints that its Sensotronic brake-by-wire system - which used an electrical link to control vehicles' brake pads - sometimes failed.

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To make this work, regular controls had to be replaced with drive-by-wire, and the accelerator, steering wheel and brake are gone in favor of an aerospace-type yoke that (as in a Segway), is moved forward to move the vehicle forward, and back for reversing.

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Stanley invented a double-brake system using two brake shoes supported by springs that clamp down on a disc.

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The week-long initiative is organised by Brake, the road safety charity.

BBC: Rise in child road deaths

If events go as planned, the Curiosity spacecraft late on Aug. 5 will plunge into the thin Martian atmosphere at 13, 200 miles per hour and quickly brake by swooping back and forth in aerodynamic S-curves, much like the Space Shuttle.

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This is another of those hand-brake turns from the Bush route to the new course set by Obama.

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As the anticipated time-to-impact decreases, CMS prepares the car for sudden braking by moving the brake pads nearer to the brake disks, and finally, when the system concludes that a collision is less than one second away, it starts to apply the brakes itself.

ECONOMIST: Cars that drive themselves