eSafety initiative spurs increased customer demand for eCall

Creation date: 31 July 2006

The German automobile club ADAC, Europe’s largest automobile club, has completed its 7th year as a telematics service provider in Germany. eCall is a key part of their service portfolio and at the time of writing it has responded to over 7,000 emergency calls from ADAC members, non-members and car manufacturers.

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 and automatically transmit a minimum set of data about the accident.

Increased demand
“We have also suffered from the low customer acceptance of the early years, as all players have had to, but we never thought of giving up or close the service, as many players have had to during the last years,” says Dietrich Heide, CEO of ADAC Service GmbH, responsible for the telematics offer. “Since early 2005, we have noticed more customer demand regarding telematics services – and eCall.”

ADAC estimates that one reason for this is the eSafety initiative and its eCall Road Map, which aims at equipping all new vehicles in Europe with an automatic emergency call system as of 2010. Together with other leading automobile clubs within the ARC-Network, ADAC actively contributes to the eCall discussion and development at both European and national level. 

eCall is top priority
ADAC members expect a good service and information about all telematics services and products, and the eCall service is one of the most important issues for safety on the road. ADAC sees offering this service to members and non-members as one of its top priorities. 
 
For more information, please contact Dr. Esin Bozyazi, AVI ADAC e.V..

For more information about eCall, visit the eCall Toolbox.