A company which specialises in developing systems for vehicle tracking, New Development (ND), has teamed up with the 112 Emergency Service and the Ministry of Transport in Iceland in order to establish a system for monitoring vehicles across the country.
The satellite monitoring system, known as project e-Call, is working together with 13 EU member states in order to set up the tracking system, according to a report from local newspaper 24 Hours (24 stundir).
ND’s managing director Fridgeir Jonsson said: “It is the EU’s wish that all vehicles manufactured for the European market after 2010 be equipped with the e-Call system.”
The tracking system would allow a car which has been in an accident to automatically alert emergency services, immediately providing details as to the car’s location, the number of passengers and information about the accident.
The Icelandic Automobile Association’s (FIB) managing director said that people in Iceland have had mixed reactions to the proposed system “Some are satisfied with the security that the system provides, others feel they are being monitored.”
Jonsson was quick to dispel some of the common fears people have about the project. “The information about time and location will only be provided when a car is in an accident. Otherwise it is not being monitored at all. This sort of discussion is not appropriate when saving people’s lives is at stake. The first minutes are very important.”
Many people wonder if the e-Call system will be obligatory in the future as precise details on how it will be implemented and how much choice drivers will have in the matter have not been released.