Error parsing XSLT file: \xslt\FacebookOpenGraph.xslt Damian James' Blog: 20 July 2007
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Damian James' Blog: 20 July 2007

Date: 20 July 2007

If you read my blog last week you know that I was going to the Royal International Air Tattoo over the weekend and was thinking about technology that had been adapted from aircraft to be used in vehicles...

E-call preparation

If you read my blog last week you know that I was going to the Royal International Air Tattoo over the weekend and was thinking about technology that had been adapted from aircraft to be used in vehicles.

At the time I couldn't think of anything but I then heard the announcer at the show talking about head up displays (HUD) which of course are becoming more common for a couple of manufacturers.

Anyway the show was great and the sun shone for a fantastic Red Arrows display which included the heart below. If you look very closely you can see one of the Hawks 'drawing' the arrow in the middle.

In other news I have received information on a trial of the proposed e-call system that took place in Austria, Germany and Italy during March, April and May this year.

E-call document

This was to test the cross boarder capability of e-call as well as the reliability of the mobile network in sending distress calls through to call centres.

The trial proved a success in that 834 test calls were made and between 91% and 99% of these were received. It does beg the question what happens if your emergency call doesn't get through. 95% of them were also accurate to within 50 meters and 94% of the calls were received at the call centre within 35 seconds.

This is a fascinating trail because it show that with some tweaking the system can work and the EU currently estimates 2500 lives a year saved by implementing e-call. The time scale for implementation is 2010 when every new car will have this system fitted as standard.

I think a discussion that we might need in the UK is the potential for us losing the 999 emergency number and coming into line with the rest of Europe who dial 112.

As the UK can't quite come to terms with the Euro yet I suspect this may be quite a stumbling block. As ever I'm also concerned the UK doesn't seem to have woken up to the fact that this is really going to happen.

I think it's a fantastic project with the potential to really make a difference to peoples lives but we need some debate started on this side of the channel which involves a cross section of the motor industry.

As far as I can see that hasn't happened yet and we only have two and a half years until implementation.



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