eCall is required by law to be included in all new European Union cars and small vans across 28 countries starting in April 2018. eCall services are expected to provide life-saving benefits for motorists involved in an accident by reducing response time by up to 50%.eCall will automatically deliver both a voice and data alert to emergency responders to inform them of the accident, by automatically dialing the standard Europe-wide emergency number 112. The data message sent to emergency responders will not only include the location of the vehicle, but also other details such as the type of vehicle so an appropriate road incident response may be dispatched.
In September 2015, GEWI joined 130 stakeholders from 17 countries for the fifth eCall conference to discuss the standards, specifications, hardware, software, testing, certification, and other details, all in preparation for the arrival of eCall in millions of vehicles.
Matthias Defee, GEWI’s Director of Customer Projects, Worldwide, attended the event to continue to contribute and to gather project requirements on how GEWI’s TIC software can be used in the eCall process.
Given the proven flexibility and multi-language support of the TIC system, Matthias confirmed that TIC is already able to be used as a component for emergency services. For example the TIC RIM (road incident management) feature can be used by government road agencies in conjunction with Europe’s emergency services, DOT’s, automobile clubs, and other road service providers.
In addition, the resulting data in TIC can also be used to quickly alert and inform drivers approaching an accident, thereby increasing road safety and reducing the risk of secondary accidents. TIC can be used to distribute data as radio news alerts, and on VMS signs and in global navigation devices.
The first European initiatives for eCall started in 2002 with the legislation passing earlier in 2015 requiring compliance for deployment in 2018. Organizations interested in learning how TIC can already be used as a component in building eCall services should contact info@gewi.com.
