Road cleared for pan-European implementation of eCall

Date: 15 May 2006

On 24-25 April the eCall Driving Group (DG) held its final meeting, aiming to pave the way for the introduction of the pan-European in-vehicle emergency call system in 2010. The different sub-working groups under the eCall DG presented the results of their activities, and a final set of recommendations for the introduction of eCall was agreed.

Participants discussed a series of potential obstacles to full-scale rollout of the pan-European in-vehicle emergency call. When activated, eCall will automatically transmit a minimum set of data (MSD) containing information about the vehicle involved in the accident to the nearest emergency centre (Public Service Answering Point). The participants discussed what should be included in this MSD and reached an agreement. However, a final study is needed in order to get an overview of whether the PSAPs have access to a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) database to identify the vehicle, or whether e.g. vehicle make and model should be included as mandatory information in the MSD.

As the eCall DG remains technology neutral the definition of the performance criteria for the public eCall service was discussed. An agreement on both the overall performance criteria and the different domains in the eCall service chain was drafted, agreed and adopted by the DG eCall participants. 

Finally, the participants updated the rollout plan for the introduction of eCall by including different milestones, the first being that ALL involved stakeholders, including the Member States, have to show their commitment by signing the eCall Memorandum of Understanding by the end of 2006.

For more information, please visit www.esafetysupport.org or contact Rasmus Lindholm.