Since early 2000 eCall is launched as a part of the eSafety initiative tohelp in fulfilling the goal of reducing the number of accidents and road victims in the European Union (EU). eCall, an automatic emergency call system that is triggered after a severe accident (e.g. with an airbag deployment) has been targeted to be available on new vehicles in the EU from 2010. A Memorandum of Understanding has been created but so far only 15 of the27 EU member states have signed, but many companies have signed. Interestingly enough, even consumers are requesting safety functions on new vehicles. From today's perspective a launch in 2010 seems unlikely, as too many open topics exist, mainly the lack of standardization and a viable business case yes, protecting life and health requires reasonable investment that has to be recovered. Despite, there seem to be ways to enforce the eCall introduction, and after discussing eCall roadblocks from Continentals perspective we will to inspire on how to remove these roadblocks.
Samenvatting