HECall - The use of eCall data to identify road incidents and hazards

Since April 2018, an innovative service has been fitted to all UK new cars and light goods vehicles. Called “eCall”, it is now mandated by law. It detects if the vehicle airbag is activated, or a user presses an emergency button. eCall then connects the occupants to talk to 999, and provides extra data on the path and location of the vehicle and identity. There are already 3500 UK eCall activations per month, and this is rising exponentially. Whilst the voice aspect is valuable, currently absolutely nothing is currently done with this valuable additional data in the UK. But Highways England (HE) has a challenge in quickly and accurately locating incidents, understanding their severity and then developing a timely response. This is a particular challenge on non-motorway roads where there are few cameras or other assets such as Traffic Officers. With voice eCall only currently being used, details of an incident could take minutes to get to an RCC or maintainer compared to the direct transfer of data. In the voice only system, vital data such as vehicle location and identity needs to be transcribed between systems and people. This is not sustainable. Using the data from eCall offers HE an operational tool that could provide a new input to CHARM to aid RCC responses, and a source for “big data” analysis of the entire HE and indeed UK network, especially to assist the issue of unreported incidents in STATS19. eCall has previously been seen as an additional cost to users rather than part of the car itself as now, and so the business case for HE has not until now been positive. However, with eCall now paid for by the vehicle owner, this situation has fundamentally changed. eCall is now here and operating, it is no longer a “might be.” HE customers will rightly expect HE to be involved in the eCall chain, and so will the media. This is especially so on a “hi tech” smart motorway. We believe that if HE does not use eCall data, you may be open to at least a reputational risk if not more serious implications. Hence this feasibility study looks at a service that harvests currently unused yet valuable eCall data, filters it and verifies it to reduce false alarms on RCCs. It publishes it to CHARM and potentially to other users such as National Vehicle Recovery and managing agents. It looks at the costs and benefits of a new approach, working through GDPR and develops a conceptual design focussed on HE operational needs that could be a commercial product of value for non-HE roads, for DfT and for export. We call this service “HECall”. It is promoted by a team with unrivalled expertise in RCC operations, eCall, CHARM and driver information who will ensure the operational day to day feasibility of this as a tool will be fully explored, and then can be converted into a commercially exploitable innovative service for wider UK roads and potentially export markets.