ECall for Vehicle Emergency Calling
It is now 4 years since the European Union, including UK, made it mandatory for all new vehicles to have inbuilt ability to automatically contact emergency services. The technology to enable this, known as eCall, was estimated to reduce emergency response times by 40 percent in urban areas and by 50 percent in rural areas.
eCall not only initiates an audio path to emergency services but also enables data to be sent such as; type of vehicle, type of fuel, number of passengers, location, and direction of travel.
To enable eCall there are four key technology components required.
Vehicle manufacturers having cellular 4G installed and activated in vehicles, and integrating this with their collision detection systems.
The Mobile Network Operators would need to enhance their cellular networks to support eCall.
Emergency services answering points, known as in NZ as ICAP. These answering points require major upgrades to receive Internet Protocol (IP) based calls and the data stream as part of eCall.
The upgrade to an IP based system is something the NZ ICAP is currently undergoing however the upgrade does not enable eCall or its data stream.
Emergency services CAD systems. There are a number of security and data validation procedures required, as well as system upgrades required for CAD systems to consume eCall’s and the associated data stream. eCall should be considered in the CARD RFP scope.
It is expected that eCall will become an international standard. A number of car manufacturers have historically provided their own equivalent solutions for emergency calling in a limited number of countries. Of interest is that in February this year General Motors in the USA decommissioned it’s OnStar service. OnStar, which had been in operation since the mid 1990’s enabled, subscribed users of GM vehicles to call emergency services through the OnStar call centre when they had an accident or needed emergency assistance.
For a number of years vehicle manufacturers have been approaching the NZ mobile network operators regarding their support for eCall. Recently the Telecommunications Carriers Forum (TCF), whose aims are to encourage cooperation and develop standards for telecommunications equipment and services, suggested that eCall could be investigated to understand the impacts and requirements for support on NZ cellular networks.