Bosch is turning the car into a lifesaver
A milestone in road safety: on March 31, 2018, the automatic "emergency call" system "“ eCall, for short "“ will become mandatory in the European Union.
This requirement means that a digital first responder who automatically calls for help in an accident will be riding along in the car, each and every time.
"Connecting cars makes a great deal possible. Through the automatic eCall system, connected vehicles are now going to become lifesavers as well," said Dr. Dirk Hoheisel, member of the board of management of Robert Bosch GmbH.
All new passenger vehicle models that hit the EU market after March 31, 2018, will come with eCall as standard. These vehicles will feature a standardized eCall box that automatically alerts the local emergency services via the number 112, which is the same across Europe. As a result, lifesaving assistance will be able to arrive with greater speed and precision at the scene of an accident.
The EU expects that eCall will save 2,500 lives each year and reduce the number of people who are seriously injured by 15 percent. The first automakers are already providing their customers with the digital lifesaver as part of the navigation system without being required to do so by law. Bosch offers an extensive eCall range featuring telematics solutions and services. Thanks to the telematics eCall plug, even older cars can benefit from the solution.
Rapid assistance as standard
Put on the high-visibility vest, set up the warning triangle, call for help "“ there are many things to think of in an emergency, and every second matters. However, many people fall into a state of shock following an accident. In an even more terrifying scenario, the people in a vehicle end up unconscious or trapped after an accident, and are unable to call for help themselves.
These are precisely the situations in which the automatic eCall system springs to action as an indispensable lifesaver. It knows exactly where the accident has occurred "“ regardless if it happens at night on a deserted road or on the freeway "“ and automatically sends that information to the rescue services.
"eCall places the emergency call faster than a person could and initiates the lifesaving rescue chain," Hoheisel said.
An SOS button is also installed on the vehicle's dash, which the vehicle's occupants can use to manually place the emergency call. In both cases, an audio connection is first established between the vehicle and the local emergency services team to communicate further details about the accident. If the driver does not respond, emergency responders go directly to the scene of the accident. Thanks to precise information about the location based on GPS coordinates, the emergency responders even know in which direction of travel the accident occurred.
This saves valuable time, as they do not first have to turn around at the next freeway junction to get to the scene of the accident. As a result, the automatic eCall enables emergency responders to arrive at the scene of the accident 40 percent faster in a city, while in rural areas, they can cut the usual response time in half.
A connectivity box that saves lives
The first automakers are already offering their customers eCall as part of a vehicle's navigation or infotainment system for a number of years. In such a set-up, what is installed in the car is not a standard eCall box, but rather an additional control unit that a connected vehicle uses to communicate with the outside world.
At Bosch, this control unit is called the connectivity control unit, or CCU. It is the heart of connected mobility and the communication hub for eCall and other functions and services. The CCU registers a crash when the car's airbags or seat-belt pretensioners are triggered. It then alerts rescue services or the Bosch emergency call center within a matter of seconds.
Thanks to the transmitted GPS position, emergency responders arrive with speed and precision at the scene of the accident. However, the CCU can do much more than that. It is connected with additional sensors in the vehicle and knows, for example, how many seat belts are in use âˆ' and therefore how many people are in the car. As a result, emergency responders not only arrive faster, but also better prepared at the scene of an accident, since the appropriate number of ambulances can be requested directly.
Bosch is turning the car into a lifesaver
Modified on Tuesday 3rd April 2018
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Bosch is turning the car into a lifesaver