The “112” pan-European in-vehicle emergency call (“eCall”) solution was successfully demonstrated at the second ERTICO - ITS Europeassembly in Brussels on Jan. 26. This demonstration was completed by cellular machine-to-machine (M2M) communication company, Cinterion and automotive supplier, DENSO (News - Alert). This demonstration coincides with the launch of the HeERO pilot program, which is set to roll out from 2011 through 2013.

The 112 eCall system is designed to help save lives and increase road safety by promptly alerting emergency services when an accident occurs. The system will automatically complete an emergency call if in-vehicle sensors detect an accident. A person can also manually operate the system to complete an emergency call.

Once activated, the in-vehicle system will establish a 112-voice connection directly with the most relevant Public Safety Answering Point. A Minimum Set of Data (MSD) is sent over the voice channel to emergency personnel at the relevant Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), including key information about the accident such as time, location and vehicle description.

“We are looking forward to continuing interoperability testing in the field during the HeERO pilot phase, as well as providing our knowledge and best-in-class M2M modules,” said Marcel Visser, Cinterion vice president for Automotive at Gemalto (News - Alert), in a statement. “We are committed to providing active support towards the successful deployment of a pan European eCall solution for better road safety.”

To prepare for this demonstration, Cinterion integrated the latest version of the 3GPP/ETSI (News - Alert) in-band technology standard in its automotive cellular modules. DENSO International Europe then integrated this Cinterion (News - Alert) solution into an In Vehicle System upgraded prototype. When the demonstration was launched, multiple MSDs were quickly and successfully transmitted from the Cinterion module embedded in the In Vehicle System to an eCall PSAP in-band modem.

eCall, a pan-European in-vehicle emergency call, is expected to offer the potential to save as many as 2,500 lives every year once it has been fully deployed. This service is also expected to reduce the severity of injuries, bring significant savings to healthcare and reduce human suffering in the time of an accident.

HeERO, the Harmonized eCall pan-European Pilot, has been funded by the EU Commission and specific European countries will implement, test and operate eCall deployment projects over the next three years. These countries will together implement, operate and validate in real-life the European eCall agreed standards, the needed technical and operational infrastructure upgrades and the value-added services in order to prepare for the deployment in Europe.

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