Imagine that serious accident happened on the road and you can not call for help - soon your car will be able to make a call instead of you. On 27-28 April, the European Parliament will discuss and vote on, the introduction of the new eCall system in the cars for automatic signaling in road accidents . After the vote in the parliamentary committee in March we have discussed with the author of the EP report Olga Sehnalova ( S & D, CZ) the need for the system , its security and price.
Why this law is required? Parliament is working a long time on the issue of a public system for automatic notification of an accident. There are private solutions that offer such functionality , but they do not work anywhere in Europe. Furthermore, when you cross the border are confronted with a language problem and often do not know exactly where you are.
The aim is to ensure the arrival of rescue services in the so -called "golden hour ", which is the decisive time interval for the lives of the victims , and this issue be resolved in a unified way across ES. Thus the new legislation is needed to build automatic notification on the public system for emergency using 112 to remove the language barrier and to provide a common standard that works beyond the boundaries of individual countries.
Many people are worried about their personal data privacy and protection. From the very beginning we have put a great emphasis on the protection of personal data. We wanted to be absolutely clear that through this system permanently observation will be not performed. Information is sent only when a serious accident occurs and and activation of airbags is in place. Then the emergency services were sent a standard set of information in accordance with the system in each country. To avoid sending rescue teams in minor accidents the system allows to perform a voice call .
What will be the financial implications for users of such a system? The estimates are within a few tens of euros. Of course, with the mass introduction of the system price will fall . What will happen next? When will begin equipment of cars with eCall? Equipping vehicles with the system will become very gradually , as we are talking about new cars and all types of vehicles . By March 2018 is the transition period to ensure ourselves that when the system is running, it will be reliable .