Abstract

The European Union is promoting eCall to reduce the number of roadway fatalities by minimizing the response time when an accident has occurred. eCall is a combination of an In Vehicle System (IVS), a device with a GSM cell phone and GPS location capability, and a corresponding infrastructure of Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) Intelligent Vehicle Safety Systems use Information and Communications Technologies for providing solutions for improving road safety in particular in the pre-crash phase when the accident can still be avoided or at least its severity significantly reduced. With these systems, which can operate either autonomously on-board the vehicle, or be based on vehicle-to-vehicle or vehicle-to-infrastructure communication (co-operative systems), the number of accidents and their severity can be reduced. Location-enhanced emergency calls like in-vehicle e-call have their primary benefit to society of saving lives and in offering an increased sense of security. The article presents the system eCall and how does it works.

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