What is eCall

Cars are increasingly connected, intelligent and autonomous: after the creation of telematic and electronic devices that help the driver, here is also a system to call for help in case of need or accident, called and Call and born with the provision EU 2015/758, made active after three years.

Mandatory for cars approved from March 31, 2018, the system is called eCall and is in fact a technological mechanism integrated in cars and vehicles that serves to track rescue operations in the event of an accident.

How eCall works

ECall works both automatically and manually, by activating a button in the car. In fact these are sensors that are attached to safety devices such as belts or airbags; the sensors, connected to a sort of "black box", are able to record the incident and trigger the automatic call to the single European number 112, which receives and records all the details of what happened.

Various car manufacturers have anticipated the times: it is the Mercedes-Benz, which had introduced the device already in 2012, and BMW, which has decided to extend the system to motorcycles already.

eCall, from cars to other vehicles

The positive thing about this system is precisely the possibility of getting the rescue operations faster, speeding them up, following the estimates communicated by Corriere.it, by as much as 40% in an urban context.

All this would also lead to savings in social spending and greater road safety.

This is why the European Union has decided to make this system mandatory as early as March 31st, at least for cars. Subsequently it will be decided whether to extend the obligation to other vehicles, such as buses, coaches or trucks .

The obligation, however, for the moment, is not yet extended to motorcycles.