Austria

In Austria, the Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology together with Dolphin Technologies, ÖAMTC and the telecom operator Mobilkom, has conducted a pilot test with 100 voluntary test drivers (the test drivers were elected out of 1.000 applicants by principle of contingency) from July until the end of September 2006. On the one hand this number shows the interest to increase road traffic security. And on the other hand the willingness of the Austrians to assist and to take active part in this task.

The eCall pilot project was scaled in four phases: The (1) election of the test drivers followed by the (2) logistically organisation including the installation, the (3) enquiry of the statistic data and (4) their evaluation and interpretation.
The testbedding was scheduled with 100 test drivers, to get a representative statement for the cycle of messaging. Each one of these 100 test drivers had to trigger at least 10 alarms. The test drivers were elected out of 1.000 applicants by principle of contingency.

In this pilot, after triggering an alarm, the ÖAMTC operation centre was informed by two different ways. A SMS-message, which was reformatted into an email, was sent. This email included all relevant data regarding the driver and the vehicle as well as the position where the alarm message was sent from. Furthermore the data of the closest PSAP is stated. At the same time a voice call to a special telephone number of the operation centre was triggered, where the integrated voice processor informed about the reason of the alarm (Accident, Emergency, Theft) and the identity of the vehicle. In addition it was possible to request the current position of the car, which is communicated using geographic coordinates.

After the installation of the Satalarm system, the eCall test driver had to give at 10-12 test alarms, by using the emergency button, until 11 August 2006. A simulated accident alarmed the operation centre, which had to recall the driver on the deposed cell phone number. The operation centre had to clarify if the alarm was an eCall test or a real case of emergency and if the transmitted position of the car was correct. Then the test driver had to complete his test driver pass with the time of the alarm, the time of the recall from the operation centre and the validation of the transmitted position. After completion of the required test alarms, the test drivers had to transfer the results to the eCall homepage. The ÖAMTC operation centre logged the delay between the email alarm and the voice call. Mobilkom Austria also evaluated the incoming voice calls and the alarms via SMS.

Verifying the reliability and the velocity of the incoming emergency message was a very important aspect. The used standards at this pilot project, which were transmitting via SMS on the one hand and the standard voice call on the other hand, were very effective. There is a marginal potential of optimising the chain of massaging between GSM provider and the operation centre. The test result shows, that 72% of the alarm messages were answered within two minutes. Further 12% in the third and fourth minute after alarming. In the case of emergency the accurate help could have been on the way only after four minutes.

During this eCall pilot, the driver’s acceptance to pay for such a service was also investigated. More than 60% of the elected test drivers agreed to pay between EUR 9,00 and EUR 14,00 per month to get prompt support in case of an accident or an emergency. Almost half was moreover willing to pay at least EUR 300 for the hardware and the installation. From a manufacturers’ point of view the threshold of costs can be fixed at EUR 900.

More information on the Austrian eCall Pilot Project can be found on http://www.e-call.at.

Links

eCall Pilot, Austria