Emergency call system for Russian automotive market

FICOSA, an automotive systems and parts supplier, and Oberthur Technologies (OT) have developed a complete emergency call system, the ERA GLONASS, for the automotive Russian market.

The ERA GLONASS system first demonstrated on the CLARA platform at Mobile World Congress 2014 in February, is the Russian equivalent of the European eCall system and will be implemented in Russia from January 2015.

The emergency system inside the vehicle consists of a telematic unit (iVTU, in Vehicle Telematic Unit) that incorporates a special SIM card (DIM? ERA GLONASS) installed in the telematic module made by Ficosa as well as a user interface module (HMI). The system allows a GLONASS profile for the emergency call and a commercial profile for telematics services. The swap of the profile is made in few seconds in accordance with local regulations.

“The safety systems and emergency services are fundamental to save lives on the road. As suppliers of components for automotive, all the technology that makes reference to move forward in this field is our focus.

The governments have the last word for the systems implementation as ERA GLONASS or eCALL, said Josep Maria Forcadell, director of the Advanced Communications Unit of Ficosa.

“Our work is to anticipate of their regulations, giving support to the entities that define them and taking part actively in the configuration of the solutions. CLARA is the result not only of the definition of the system, but the demonstration of its functionalities,” Mr Forcadell said. “This work is possible thanks to the good position of Ficosa in the M2M (Machine to Machine) market with its technological patents and the collaboration with other strategic industrial partners such Oberthur.”

The system has been specifically designed to facilitate the implementation of these innovative services by mobile networks operators, car makers and telematic service providers. Combined with the CLARA platform from Ficosa, the system will help the entire industry move forward, said Edward Simonet, M2M business director at Oberthur.

“Car telematic services and emergency systems will offer majors benefits to drivers around the world and in Russia in particular. OT provides innovation matching worldwide regulations,” said Mr Simonet.

According to studies of the National Entity of Russian Navigation (NISS), ERA GLONASS is intended to reduce emergency services’ time-to-arrival by up to 30%, saving up to 4,000 additional lives every year.