BMW will be introducing an “Intelligent Emergency Call” system on the company’s motorcycles in Europe in 2017. The “eCall” system has been available in BMW automobiles since 1999 and will be required in all automobiles by 2018. The theory is that the quicker medical teams can reach the site of an accident the far better chance of a positive outcome for the victim. In the case of of an accident the motorcycle’s unit will send out location information to a call centre as long as the unit is in range of cell phone coverage. The intelligent part of the equation in terms of technology relates to the system being activated either manually or automatically depending on the situation.
BMW states the three possible scenarios as:
Scenario 1: Automatic triggering in the case of a bad fall / collision.
The emergency call is automatically triggered without time delay, sending a message to a qualified BMW Call Center. The accident victim/rider is taken care of by the BMW Call Center via audio connection until the emergency service arrives. Help is sent out in any case even if there is no response. A display in the instrument cluster shows that the eCall has been initiated. An acoustic signal is also set off. In this case the rider cannot cancel the emergency call any more.
Scenario 2: Automatic triggering in the case of a minor fall / collision.
In this case the emergency call is only triggered after 25 seconds before sending a message to the BMW Call Center. If no help is necessary after only a non-serious accident, the accident victim/rider has the opportunity of cancelling the emergency call at the press of a button. If he does not cancel, the rescue chain is initiated as in scenario 1. A display in the instrument cluster shows that the eCall has been initiated. An acoustic signal is also set off.
Scenario 3: Manual triggering by pressing a button
In this case the eCall is triggered manually by pressing the SOS button on the right handlebar end, e.g. for calling help for other road users in need. A message is sent to the BMW Call Center and a voice connection is established. A voice connection is mandatory if the eCall was triggered manually before further measures are initiated. Here too, the accident victim/rider is also given the opportunity to cancel the emergency call at the press of a button or by turning off the ignition. The intelligent emergency call can only be triggered manually when the motorcycle is stationary with the ignition on.
