eCall experts agree on priority actions

Creation date: 31 March 2006

Meeting in Budapest on 23 March, eCall experts discussed a series of potential obstacles to full-scale roll out of the pan-European in-vehicle emergency call. Generated either manually by a vehicle occupant or automatically via activation of in-vehicle sensors, an eCall will establish voice contact with the nearest emergency centre (Public Service Answering Point) and automatically transmit a minimum set of data about the accident.

Participants discussed what should be included in this minimum set of data, comparing two proposals developed by ACEA and GST RESCUE. The issue of data protection was examined, and it was agreed that a meeting would be organised at a later stage to discuss the subject further once the data protection officers had finalised their recommendations.

 
Delegates also discussed the additional workload that eCall will create for the Public Service Answering Points (PSAPs), including the risk of generating false emergency calls. More statistics are however needed on similar systems currently on the market triggering alarm calls to service centres.

Finally, participants looked into the costs associated with implementing eCall. PSAPs will need to upgrade their emergency response services so that they can deal with so called E112 calls – emergency calls from mobile phones with location information. Additionally they will have to invest in language training for staff. The eCall Driving Group agreed to produce a template for estimating such costs.

The Driving Group will meet on 24 and 25 April to finalise the recommendations for eCall deployment, which will be presented at the eSafety Forum plenary meeting on 2 and 3 May.

For more information please visit the eCall Toolbox.