New EU law mandates eCall in all new cars

[FarCenter]

IDG News Service - Starting in October 2015, all new cars in the European Union would have to be fitted with an eCall device, according to new draft legislation announced Thursday.

ECall technology installed in a car automatically dials 112 -- Europe's single emergency number -- when it detects a serious accident. It then sends information about the accident to rescue services, including the time of incident, the position of the crashed vehicle and the direction of travel.

But the Commission was keen to reassure citizens that there would be no risk of data monitoring. "For liability reasons, the emergency call centres will store the data related to the eCall for a determined period of time, in accordance with national regulations and with Data Protection Directive," said the Commission in a statement. But the eCall is a dormant system, only triggered when an accident occurs or by the driver pushing a button manually in the car.

"It is not traceable and when there is no emergency (its normal operational status) it is not subject to any constant tracking. As it is not permanently connected to mobile networks, hackers cannot take control of it," according to the Commission.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9240037/New_EU_law_mandates_eCall_in_all_new_cars

[hatrack]

1. Thank God - I thought they were mandating E. Coli in all cars . . .

Now, where the hell were my reading glasses . . .