It has been two months since Intelematics, together with ITS Australia, the peak body for advanced transport technology, introduced the need for the federal government to mandate e-safety technology for all-new Australian vehicles in a bid to drive down future road fatalities and serious injuries.
We see this mandate as a critical part of Australia’s journey towards achieving zero road deaths by 2050, as set out in the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030. Our position is clear – there is no need to wait as we have the technology now. What we need is the will.
A key aim of our campaign has been to start a national conversation about eCall – the merits of the technology and the positive economic and social impact it will have.
Last week marked a major milestone as we brought together representatives from ITS Australia, ANCAP, Intelematics and British APCO (key adviser to the European Commission on eCall deployment in Europe) to start the conversation around eCall in Australia.
A webinar titled ‘How eCall in Australian Vehicles Can Help to Achieve Vision Zero Fatalities’ was hosted by ITS Policy Manager Stacey Ryan. She was joined by Senior Vice President British APCO Andy Rooke, ANCAP Technical Director James Hurnall, and Intelematics Product Owner (ASURE) Katherine Anderson.
A key item raised in the webinar was ANCAP’s announcement that eCall will form part of its safety rating testing by 2025, which moves us one step closer to achieving our vision for eCall. ANCAP Technical Director James Hurnall said eCall would be required to achieve a 5-star rating at this time.
The forum raised a number of key issues, but none that can’t be overcome through a coordinated national approach. The capacity of domestic telecommunications systems and government infrastructure, in addition to eCall being a relatively new and invisible technology, were highlighted as concerns.
And while network coverage and reliability was raised, it was also pointed out that through Telstra, Australia has one of the best networks in the world. Similarly, while false calls may be a concern due to their impact on emergency services resources, with the right infrastructure and systems in place to triage calls we can ensure emergency services only receive true emergency calls.
Reflecting on the insights shared, three key things stand out to me. Firstly, education is required across the board – from consumers through to vehicle OEMs and policy makers. Secondly, there is unequivocal support from all sides of industry for eCall, but for it to succeed like it has in Europe, we need to look at both public (with funding and infrastructure provided by governments) and private systems. Thirdly, this must be a technology pull as well as a push from OEMs leading the way to deliver a better, safer driving experience.
Reflecting on last week’s webinar and our campaign so far, it is clear there is demand and support for eCall, but its uptake will be determined by a long-term program of education and influence. Compared to Europe, which has mandated eCall since 2018, we’ve only just left the starting blocks in Australia. This presents us with a huge opportunity but also a very steep hill to climb.
My hope is that with the support of ITS, ANCAP and British APCO we can start a broader national conversation on this topic which leads to positive outcomes for all Australians. With approximately 1,100 lives lost on our roads each year, the opportunity eCall presents is too great. So too is the cost of inaction.
Rob is an MBA-qualified executive leader of high-performance teams with consulting experience and tenures across the logistics, telco, energy renewables and location & navigation market sectors.
He currently leads the product and design team at Intelematics and is responsible for the strategic development of connected vehicle and mobility solutions for the Australian market and global AI-based data services.
He has extensive experience in building new products from inception, integrating newly acquired businesses, commercialising large marketplaces for high profile Australian brands and negotiating deals with global suppliers. He feels comfortable working in complex digital and iOT-based environments dealing with rapid change.
