Patent ID: 8764127

Claim:
A method for performing an emergency braking procedure in a vehicle in the event of an emergency situation, the method comprising: determining an existence of an emergency state; and responsive to the determination of the emergency state, automatically generating an emergency vehicle brake force for braking the vehicle by switching from (a) a first voltage supply state, in which voltage from a voltage source of an vehicle electrical system, which supplies voltage to a plurality of electrical components of the vehicle, is applied to an electric actuator of a braking system to (b) a second voltage supply state, in which voltage from a supplemental electrical energy store is applied to the electric actuator; wherein: the supplemental electrical energy store is one of (i) connected in series with the voltage source of the vehicle electrical system and (ii) arranged on a separate line than the voltage source of the vehicle electrical system; the voltage from the voltage source of the vehicle electrical system is within a rated voltage of the electric actuator; when the voltage from the supplemental electrical energy store is applied to the electric actuator, the rated voltage of the actuator is exceeded; and application of the voltage from the supplemental electrical energy store to the electric actuator is performed conditional upon that the determination that the emergency state exists is made.