Method for emergency braking of an ego-vehicle, in which a first environment detection system of the ego-vehicle traveling in a direction of travel detects an object in the front space in front of the ego-vehicle, an autonomous emergency braking system (AEBS) being provided which is in an AEBS standby mode (AEBS-GM) during travel outside an emergency braking situation, and the autonomous emergency braking system (AEBS) being switched over to an active AEBS mode (AEBS-M) if an emergency braking situation is detected outside a reliable target detection situation, using an AEBS cascade (AEBS-K) consisting of a first driver warning, subsequent partial braking and subsequent emergency braking, characterized in that, if the object is detected in the front space, it is determined that a reliable target detection situation is present if at least the following target detection situation criteria (ZES-K1-K3) are fulfilled: - the detected object is a front vehicle (v_VF > 0) traveling in the direction of travel (ZESK1), - the front vehicle is followed over a minimum following period (t min) (ZESK2), - in the minimum following period (t min), the same front vehicle is followed (ZESK3), and the autonomous emergency braking system (AEBS) being switched over to an active AEBS following mode (AEBS-FM) if an emergency braking situation is detected in a reliable target detection situation, in which mode emergency braking is carried out without waiting for a previous phase in which a driver warning is emitted. a first environment detection system of the ego-vehicle traveling in a direction of travel detects an object in the front space in front of the ego-vehicle, an autonomous emergency braking system (AEBS) being provided which is in an AEBS standby mode (AEBS-GM) during travel outside an emergency braking situation, and the autonomous emergency braking system (AEBS) being switched over to an active AEBS mode (AEBS-M) if an emergency braking situation is detected outside a reliable target detection situation, using an AEBS cascade (AEBS-K) consisting of a first driver warning, subsequent partial braking and subsequent emergency braking, characterized in that, if the object is detected in the front space, it is determined that a reliable target detection situation is present if at least the following target detection situation criteria (ZES-K1-K3) are fulfilled: - the detected object is a front vehicle (v_VF > 0) traveling in the direction of travel (ZESK1), - the front vehicle is followed over a minimum following period (t min) (ZESK2), - in the minimum following period (t min), the same front vehicle is followed (ZESK3), and - the detected object is a front vehicle (v_VF > 0) traveling in the direction of travel (ZESK1), - the front vehicle is followed over a minimum following period (t min) (ZESK2), - in the minimum following period (t min), the same front vehicle is followed (ZESK3), the autonomous emergency braking system (AEBS) being switched over to an active AEBS following mode (AEBS-FM) if an emergency braking situation is detected in a reliable target detection situation, in which mode emergency braking is carried out without waiting for a previous phase in which a driver warning is emitted.