HeERO

HeERO (Harmonised eCall European Pilot) is a demonstration project that is funded by the European Commission. It pushes the introduction of the European vehicle emergency call. For this purpose, the Comission tests application pilots in nine EU states (Italy, Romania, Finland, Germany, Czech Republic, Croatia, Sweden, Greece, Sweden). ITS Niedersachsen GmbH as the lead manager and its partners are responsible for the German eCall pilot.

eCall is an automatic emergency call for vehicles that is planned by the European Union. The devices are supposed to report traffic accidents using the positioning determined via satellite navigation and the Minimum Set of Data (MSD) to a uniform European emergency number. Furthermore, a voice connection is made from a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) to the car involved in the accident. The eCall is activated either when the airbag is set off or manually. The promptly initiated rescue operations help to reduce the number of traffic casualties and injuries. In the near future, eCall should be offered as an option when buying a new car in Europe. Studies have shown that with eCall the number of traffic casualties in Europe can be reduced by 2,500 per year.

The entire project HeERO, started in 01.01.2011, has a duration of three years and a project volume of 10 million Euros. In the German project part are, besides ITS Niedersachsen GmbH as coordinator, also the companies ADAC e.V., Continental Automotive GmbH, Flughafentransfer Hannover GmbH, NavCert GmbH, NXP Semiconductors Germany GmbH, OECON Product & Services GmbH and S1nn GmbH & Co. KG involved.

Project duration: January 2011 – December 2013
Project leader Germany: ITS Niedersachsen GmbH
Funded by: European Commission, Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)

Further information can be found on the project website http://www.heero-pilot.eu