sAFE Project
Since June 2018 it has been mandatory in Europe for all new types of cars and light commercial vehicles to be fitted with eCall technology. eCall automatically dials 112 when a vehicle is involved in an incident. The calls use the cellular network and are answered by public safety answering points (PSAP). To reduce the number of calls that do not require emergency response (termed false calls), vehicle manufacturers must have a robust triggering mechanism, which meets the requirements of the eCall standard.
The sAFE (Aftermarket eCall For Europe) project is examining how aftermarket eCall can be rolled out to a range of vehicle types to speed up deployment across Europe, while establishing minimum performance requirements for these devices and installation procedures in order to avoid overload of PSAPs by false calls. The Satellite Applications Catapult team is leading several of the connectivity elements of the project, including studies for requirements of trucks, coaches, agricultural and forestry vehicles, and the development of next generation IP-based eCall.
