In my 2018 CT6 Cadillac, occasionally as I approach a car stopped at a light, I see a red icon flashing on the windshield. I assume that is my COLLiSION WARNING doing its thing! But without damn near having an accident, HOW DO I KNOW THAT MY AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING REALLY WORKS??
Stop yelling…
There is brake assist and there is automatic braking.
Brake assist recognizes an emergency pedal stomp and just goes straight to ABS. You can test that in an empty parking lot. Stab the brakes at 35 and see what happens.
As for the automatic braking. If it doesn’t show an error light it is working. If you want to test it in action, I’d suggest a blow up doll. The weighted ones meant to wobble in the wind but not blow away. Drive at it and see what happens. Stop or strike?
Now would you like to test your airbags, too?
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+1
Or, the OP could drive–at low speed–toward a large bush or shrub. If the AEB is working properly, it will stop the car before it hits the shrub. If it isn’t working properly, at least damage to the car will be minimal… or maybe even non-existent.
My vehicle has AEB in both forward and reverse gears, and when I’m backing out of my garage, if it thinks I’m getting too close to the shrubbery, it will engage the brakes when I am a couple of feet from the shrubs, and a large red box stating “BRAKE!” appears over the speedometer area. So, I know that it is working in reverse, and I am comfortable with assuming that it also works when I’m driving forward.
Before I enter an automatic car wash, I disengage the AEB, and–as Mustangman mentioned–a warning light informs me that the AEB is not currently working.
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Subaru dealers had one of the dumy cars to demonstrate the Aeb.pn the.lot. a shrub would work. Most shut off if the aeb intervenes 3x in a trip. Have used the btrake assist a few times but you get warned before Aeb kicks in.
Our Rav4 supposedly has that. Salesmen says they were on a training, it was raining, and the car went through the cardboard obstruction. Don’t depend on it he said.
Several months back, I saw a video comparing the AEB system on a Lexus RX with that of a Tesla (Model X, I think…), utilizing dummies that popped-up in front of the vehicles. The Lexus stopped a few feet from the dummy, while the Tesla mowed the dummy down. The test was repeated several times, with the same result.
When asked to comment on this situation, Elon Musk stated that HIS vehicles know the difference between a dummy and a real person. Sure, Mr. Musk, whatever you say…
The bottom line is that these systems vary in effectiveness from one marque to another, and possibly from one model to another, within the same marque. You might recall a couple of years ago that one of the more significant problems with Nissan Rogues was that their AEB system mistook snow embankments on the roadside for an obstacle in the roadway, but I never heard of that problem with other Nissan models.
Build a cardboard box wall out of thin cardboard, if you hit it, it wont damage the car or paint…
Or have your wife stand in the road and… Just kidding!!! 
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It wont damage your paint
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Car&Driver test from 2018 of the Subaru, Cadillac, Toyota, and Tesla systems. Some are better than others.
We Crash Four Cars Repeatedly to Test Their Automatic Braking Systems (caranddriver.com)
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