Industry and EU partner on emergency service

The GSM Association has joined forces with the European Union to push the deployment of a Europe-wide in-vehicle emergency service known as eCall.

European Information Commissioner Viviane Reding and GSMA CEO Rob Conway have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which will encourage cooperation between vehicle manufacturers, mobile operators and the EU as well as interested parties such as insurance companies.

eCall is an emergency call generated either manually by vehicle occupants or automatically via in-vehicle sensors in an emergency situation. When activated, the eCall system establishes a voice connection with emergency services. The service sends data including time, location, direction of travel and vehicle identification, to speed response times by the emergency services. The European Commission believes that eCall, which will be a free service, could potentially save up to 2,500 lives every year.

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