Photo: BMW
Last year in Europe, the road crash death toll counted 26,000 lives, with a big part of casualties happening because of rescue teams not making it in time. But that should get solved starting 2018, as the European Parliament (EP) ruled eCall systems mandatory on all passenger cars.
The eCall measure has been in discuss from earlier on, but it is only now the law gets enough votes to be adopted. The agreement got approved by 30 votes to 1, with 2 abstentions, now needing to be authorized by all EU member states and the Parliament in March next year.
According to the EP, the “eCall service will be free of charge for all citizens, whatever car they drive and whatever its purchase price. The new rules will ensure that eCall works only as safety device. It will be illegal to use it to track a driver’s movements or to misuse location data, which must be sent only to the emergency services.”
The system uses the standard European 112 emergency service technology to inform rescuers about serious road accidents automatically and even if the persons involved are not able to talk, eCall will provide the exact location of the car, its type, the fuel it’s running on as well as the time of the accident.
Also, automakers will be obliged to allow for deleting data processed of the eCall system and the car owner’s manual will have to provide the information on how to do that exactly, both in the printed and online versions.
As for automakers that already offer emergency calls, the rule says they should also offer the eCall system as a backup feature in case theirs will fail. Nonetheless, every single car exiting the assembly line after March 2018 will have to contain the system as standard, just like ABS or seatbelts, for no additional cost.
According to the EP, the “eCall service will be free of charge for all citizens, whatever car they drive and whatever its purchase price. The new rules will ensure that eCall works only as safety device. It will be illegal to use it to track a driver’s movements or to misuse location data, which must be sent only to the emergency services.”
The system uses the standard European 112 emergency service technology to inform rescuers about serious road accidents automatically and even if the persons involved are not able to talk, eCall will provide the exact location of the car, its type, the fuel it’s running on as well as the time of the accident.
Does this mean the car’s position is known all the time? How about privacy?
According to the EU, privacy in this case is a high priority. The system has to be taken as a simple safety feature and the rule is that it will be illegal to track a driver’s movements or to provide data to third parties without the explicit consent of the person involved.Also, automakers will be obliged to allow for deleting data processed of the eCall system and the car owner’s manual will have to provide the information on how to do that exactly, both in the printed and online versions.
As for automakers that already offer emergency calls, the rule says they should also offer the eCall system as a backup feature in case theirs will fail. Nonetheless, every single car exiting the assembly line after March 2018 will have to contain the system as standard, just like ABS or seatbelts, for no additional cost.
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