Juhani Jääskeläinen, Head of Unit, ICT for Transport, at the European Commission,providing a key note presentation on the status of eCall deployment in Europe, at today’sevent at innovITS Advance.
With eCall in the process of adoption across many EU member states, innovITS Advance is launching a unique and comprehensive end-to-end testing capability for vehicles equipped with this important new safety technology.
At a seminar followed by a site tour and eCall test demonstration hosted today, key note speakers from the European Commission, ERTICO – ITS Europe, and the Automobile Association addressed respectively the status of eCall deployment across Europe, the effectiveness of cross-industry collaboration in its realization, and the perspective of the motorist regarding this important new automotive safety technology.
“I am extremely pleased to have welcomed at today’s event, so many representatives of the automotive and telecoms industries, regulatory authorities, the media and other key stakeholders in the roll-out of eCall in Europe,” commented innovITS CEO Phil Pettitt. “eCall is an important European technology initiative which aims to improve the emergency response time to road traffic accidents and one which is increasingly likely to be incorporated as standard fitment to vehicles marketed within Europe. Through the innovITS Advance eCall test facility that we have launched today, we hope to contribute by offering the first and only true end to end test capability by virtue of our extensive network of urban roads, fully controllable private GSM network, Skyclone GNSS attenuation and denial system, and e112 public service access point (PSAP). I was pleased to welcome our industrial partners and fellow stakeholders in the European roll-out of eCall to what was a thoroughly interesting and informative event.”
The new eCall technology aims to improve significantly road safety by automatically communicating with the emergency services in the event of an accident, even if the driver and passengers are unable to speak due to injury. In such circumstances the system automatically transmits a minimum data set including the exact location of the crash site and identification of the vehicle, thus reducing emergency service response time. In addition, when a driver or passenger in an eCall equipped car witnesses an accident, they can report it and automatically summon assistance while giving precise location information, all at the push of a button.
Visitors were shown a demonstration of the innovITS Advance eCall test capabilitythrough a simulated collision triggering an eCall across the facility’s private GSMnetwork and e112 public service access point (PSAP). Together with its extensivenetwork of urban roads and Skyclone GNSS attenuation and denial system, innovITSAdvance can provide a comprehensive eCall testing environment.
Since carrying out the first demonstration of an end to end eCall test capability at the innovITS Advance site in November 2011, innovITS and its industrial partners DENSO, CINTERION, TRL, MIRA and PMN, have been working to install the necessary hardware and software systems to provide a commercial service to customers. Following the successful ETSI/ERTICO eCall ‘Plug Tests’ on May 22-24 this year, this capability has now been validated across a range of hardware platforms and operational modes. Today’s event marked the launch of the commercial service and also provided a forum for an exchange of views by key stakeholders engaged in the implementation of eCall.
“Cinterion, as a provider of wireless M2M communication modules, Machine Identification Modules (MIMs), MIM personalization capabilities plus a trusted and secure, cloud-based Service Delivery Platform for any M2M application, is pleased to be a key supporter InnovITS offering of a dedicated ITS test and development facility like the one demonstrated today.
During last year’s 8th European Congress and Exhibition on Intelligent Transport Systems and Services held in Lyon on June 6-9, 2011, Cinterion identified the brilliant opportunity of combining capabilities of MIRA’s proving ground and innovITS Advance’s capabilities, when extending this offering according the planned EU 112 eCall requirements.
This resulted in a unique and powerful end to end eCall testing facility for In Vehicle System Providers (1stTiers) and vehicle manufacturers (OEMs), probably the first one in Europe”, said Marcel Visser, global vice president automotive of Cinterion a Gemalto Company and chairman of the ERTICO Automotive Suppliers Sector Platform.
