HeERO Newsletter - Issue 4

12 January 2015

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Introduction

The HeERO projects (Harmonised eCall European pilot) addressed the pan-European in-vehicle emergency call service "eCall" based on 112, the common European Emergency number.

For four years (HeERO phase 1 in 2011-2013 & HeERO phase 2 in 2013-2014), 15 countries carried out the start-up process of an interoperable and harmonised emergency call system.

Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Romania and Sweden were committed to the same high-level objective: developing the local 112 eCall infrastructure needed in order to provide sustainable eCall service for European citizens and share their experiences with the other EU Members and Associated States. On 1st January 2013, 6 other countries, namely Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, and Turkey have joined the 9 first pilot sites.

ERTICO - ITS Europe's Senior Project Manager and HeERO Project Coordinator Andy Rooke observed: "The HeERO projects have made such a positive contribution to the deployment of eCall based on 112 across Europe. As a result of the project there are now 15 Member States who know exactly how to deploy eCall. This is a positive contribution to casualty reduction across Europe".

Gary Machado, EENA Executive Director, notes: "I am delighted that eCall based on 112 will finally be up and running after more than 10 years of discussion. I would like to thank the 15 HeERO pilot sites for their hard work showing that we can make it!".

The project was 50% funded by the European Union under the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme.

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Table of content

  • Report on the Final HeERO international conference
  • Update on eCall legislation at EU level
  • Status of eCall implementation at PSAPs level in the EU
  • HeERO Standards Task force update
  • eCall interoperability tests
  • HeERO project's deliverables
  • Launch of ERA GLONASS on 1 January 2015
  • Glossary
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Report on the Final HeERO International Conference

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From the 27th to the 28th November 2014, the final HeERO International Conference took place in Madrid, Spain. It highlighted the final outcomes, impact and results of the HeERO 2 project. Each pilot site shared its experiences and participants had the opportunity to see eCall demonstration.

The event was held under the high auspices of the European Commission in cooperation with ERTICO ITS-Europe (project coordinator), the European Emergency Number Association (EENA) and was hosted by the Spanish pilot site coordinator Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT).

The conference has been attended by about 200 delegates from industry, mobile network operators, emergency services from over 30 countries in Europe and beyond. Speakers included officials of the European Commission, Governmental and Senior members of Spanish Pilot Site as well as many representatives of HeERO 2 consortium.

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Update on eCall legislation at EU level

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IVS
REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL concerning type-approval requirements for the deployment of the eCall in-vehicle system and amending Directive 2007/46/EC. The regulation would require all new car models to be equipped with eCall technology from 31 March 2018.

Within the 3 years following 31 March 2018, the European Commission shall evaluate if extension of eCall to trucks, dangerous goods vehicles, powered 2 wheels is relevant.

The agreement reached early December 2014 now needs to be formally approved by all EU member states and finally Parliament as a whole, probably in March 2015.

Read more here


Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs)
DECISION (COM(2013)0315 - C7-0173/2013 - 2013/0166(COD)) OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the deployment of the interoperable EU-wide eCall published on 3 June 2014. All EU Member States shall deploy on their territory (...) no later than 1 October 2017 the eCall PSAP infrastructure required for the proper receipt and handling of all eCalls (...). (interoperable EU-wide eCall service).

By 24 December 2015, Member States shall report to the Commission on the state of implementation of this Decision.

Full text available here


MNO
There is no European regulation on the implementation of eCall Discriminator (eCall Flag).  Commission Recommendation C (2011) 6269 adopted on 08/09/2011.

Full text available here


Third-Party Service eCall
As in Type Approval regulation (entry in force planned on 31 March 2018), Third-Party Service eCall will be allowed provided:
a) Compliance with EN 16102:2011 (TPS eCall standard)
b) Only one system at a time & 112 eCall in the event that the TPS eCall does not function
c) Owner may at any time choose to use the 112-based eCall in-vehicle system instead of TPS

Final report: eCall - Technical considerations regarding type-approval testing of eCall in-vehicle systems (May 2014 - see Paragraph 3.18)

NB: TPS standard to be revised when regulation finalised

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Status of eCall implementation at PSAPs level in the EU

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A majority of EU countries are willing to get eCalls handled by 112 PSAPs. At the same time, many other EU countries are also still unsure about the eCall implementation model they will use. Should we get eCall handled by all 112 PSAPs? Or should they be handled by one 112 PSAP that would filter the calls and forward the real calls to the most appropriate PSAP? Or instead of a 112 PSAP filtering the calls, should we use a PSAP handling only eCall? Should it be a private PSAP under public mandate? Should manual eCalls and automatic eCalls be handled differently? By 24 December 2015, Member States will have to report to the European Commission on how they plan to implement eCall.

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HeERO Standardisation Task force

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The standardisation task force has met physically 6 times over 2012, 2013 and 2014  to carry out discussions about eCall interoperability and to progress on the contributions to the standardisation. Based on HeERO evaluations and even more on the results from the eCall TESTFEST events, the standardisation task force has prepared change requests for all relevant eCall standards.

The change requests were submitted to the CEN TC278/WG15, leading to draft new revisions of the eCall standards; EN 16072, EN 16062, EN 15722 and En 16454 (previously TS 16454). The revision of these standards was aimed at improving the performance of the Pan European eCall services as well as improving the clarity of the requirements in the standards. However the changes will ensure backward compatibility of the eCall devices compliant to the published ENs.

These revised standards were submitted for approval and are under ballot until 18 December 2014.

The task force has also strongly contributed to gather new experts and views about eCall testing. This network of eCall testing experts was used to contribute to the drafting of D6.3, the HeERO2 deliverable on eCall certification.

For more information on the Standardisation TF, please contact François Fischer ().

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eCall interoperability tests

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The eCall TESTFEST series of event is co-organised by ERTICO - ITS Europe and ETSI to offer eCall device vendors the opportunity to check the compliancy as well as the interoperability of their products. The events, attended by engineers allowed to discuss concerns on eCall process and furthermore to gather inputs to validate or as necessary improve eCall standards. The two first editions of the eCall TESTFEST event were held respectively at MIRA, Nuneaton, UK, in May 2012 and at CETECOM, Essen, Germany, in September 2013.

The third edition of the eCall TESTFEST event was held from 27 to 31 October 2014, at CTAG, in Vigo, Spain.  This editions opened to new test areas: GNSS performances and Speech Quality. 71 engineers from 30 companies from the three continents participated in hundreds of test sessions.

91% of the participants found this event useful and would participate in another eCall TESTFEST edition in 2015.

During this 3rd TESTFEST event, a successful workshop, supported by the iMobility Support EU project, was held to inform stakeholders on the needs and means for validating eCall devices.

For more information on the eCall interoperability tests, please download this presentation. You can also contact François Fischer ().

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HeERO project's deliverables

All deliverables that have been prepared within HeERO 1 & 2 projects are now available. They will allow you to get full reports on eCall implementation, operations and evaluation. eCall deployment enablers, standardisation, certification, recommendations have also been documented.

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Launch of ERA GLONASS on 1 January 2015

ERA GLONASS have confirmed that their published launch date for eCall in the Russian Federation will be 1st January 2015, with the schedule of progressive advancement in vehicle types requiring eCall is  also on track. These statements follow the highly successful joint tests with ERA GLONASS at the ITS European Congress in Helsinki earlier this year.

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Glossary

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  • ERA-GLONASS: Russian automated emergency response system, similar to eCall
  • EUCARIS: EUropean CAR and driving license Information System
  • GIS: Geographic Information System
  • HeERO: Harmonised ecall EuROpean pilot
  • HGV: Heavy Goods Vehicle
  • IVS: In-Vehicle System
  • KPI: Key Performance Indicator
  • MSD: Minimum Set of Data
  • PSAP: Public Safety Answering Point
  • TMC: Traffic Management Center
  • VIN: Vehicle Identification Number
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Any question?

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Project coordinator
Andy Rooke
ERTICO

+32 2 400 07 80

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Dissemination Manager
Jerome Paris
EENA

+32 2 644 06 08

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Disclaimer
Possible inaccuracies of information are under the responsibility of the project team. The text reflects solely the views of its authors. The European Commission is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.

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