GST RESCUE

Improving the response time of emergency services

All new cars in Europe should be equipped with automatic emergency call (eCall) technology by 2010. Once implemented, it could save 2,500 lives every year and provide faster medical care for many thousands more. GST RESCUE, a subproject of the GST Integrated Project, is contributing to the achievement of this goal by developing applications that will ensure emergency services use the information provided by eCall in the most efficient way.

eCall will automatically send crucial information to the emergency services in the event of an accident. GST RESCUE has played an important part in the development of this technology by contributing proposals and strategies to the eCall technical standardisation process.

GST RESCUE’s overriding objective is to look at how the information provided by eCall can be used within the emergency service vehicle itself so that it will reach the incident scene as quickly and safely as possible, increasing the number of lives saved and reducing the severity of injuries.

Objectives

• Assess the type of emergency resources required to provide the appropriate response to a critical incident.
• Ensure that information about the incident will be available in the emergency vehicles and that the vehicles
  will reach the incident scene in the safest, fastest possible way.
• Complete the in-vehicle emergency call chain. This will make it possible to efficiently guide the emergency services to the scene of the incident, providing them with accurate locations and alerting other road users that they are approaching through a “blue corridor” system using vehicle-to-vehicle communication to send out warning messages. The safety of the incident scene is then ensured with a “virtual coning” system that transmits warnings about the incident to approaching road users. After the emergency vehicle leaves the scene, remote reporting and transfer of relevant data to hospitals is then made possible.

Duration and Funding

March 2004 - February 2007, funded through the EC Directorate General Information Society & Media

Consortium

ERTICO (sub-project leader), Fiat CRF, France Telecom, Kreis Offenbach, Mizar, Motorola, Orange, Petards, Renault, Sussex Police, TNO, Volvo

Contact

Monica Schettino
+32 (0)2 400 07 80