German researchers want to use the infrastructure of a new European Union emergency system called eCall to complement the national satellite-based warning system SatWaS. Individuals currently can only receive a warning of a natural disaster via SatWaS if a radio or TV is turned on, but Germany could use eCall to trigger car horns and provide more extensive alarming. Designed to reduce car accidents, eCall features a global positioning system sensor and a mobile phone component, which is activated only in an accident and can transmit data, such as time of the accident, coordinates, and driving direction of the vehicle, to an emergency call center. A team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Technological Trend Analysis INT in Euskirchen wants to equip cars with radio receivers so that civil protection agencies would be able to send a message to cars, within certain boundaries and with engines off, to sound their horns. ECall will be rolled out in new cars starting in September 2010. “If all new vehicles are equipped with eCall from the end of next year, the warning system may be ready for use after an establishment phase of two to four years,” says Guido Huppertz from the INT’s Technology Analyses and Forecasts department.
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