145 000 people visited this year’s NATO Days in Ostrava (CZ), where the pan-European eCall and its pre-deployment pilot project HeERO were presented on the 21 and 22 September 2013. As distinguished guest, the Czech Minister of Transport honoured the HeERO project by triggering the first eCall from a Croatian vehicle on Czech territory. The success of this joint undertaking, organised by the Czech Ministry of Transport and supported by ERTICO – ITS Europe, demonstrated the interest of the public for the pan-European eCall and the readiness of the HeERO countries to deploy the solution.
“This sounds like science-fiction”. This comment came from several visitors of the NATO Days in Ostrava who looked with interest at the eCall stand, jointly set-up by the Czech Ministry of Transport and ERTICO – ITS Europe. But eCall is no fiction anymore, and it will in all new vehicles from October 2015 onwards. That is the message that was passed on to the visitors and that was very positively received.
Czech Minister of Transport Zdeněk Žák was amongst the enthusiastic visitors of the eCall stand. Mr. Žák, was given the opportunity to trigger the first eCall from a Croatian car on the Czech territory demonstrating the interoperability of eCall implementations, an important objective of the HeERO project. This live interoperability test was made possible thanks to the preparation of HeERO’s Croatian partners National Protection and Rescue Directorate, Ericsson Nicola Tesla, in collaboration with Czech’s Telefonica. Testing vehicles from HeERO Czech and German pilot sites were also on display for the public.
The organisers of the NATO days were committed to give the public the latest insights on defense, security, civil protection and rescue technology. Hence their decision to present eCall during this two day event. “We strive to present security in all forms at our event and we are therefore glad to become the first place in the world to offer a public presentation of the eCall system. This high-tech novelty leads to increased safety of road traffic because it is a system of automated emergency calls. Because the system has been presented mostly to the expert audience, NATO Days in Ostrava are going to be a first public event to introduce the system to general public.” stated Zbyněk Pavlačík from the Jagello 2000 Association, the main organizer of the event.
ERTICO – ITS EUROPE has participated in the exhibition with a stand in order to present related projects and activities and more specifically increase public awareness of the Pan European eCall system based on 112. ERTICO personnel (Mrs Lina Konstantinopoulou and Mr Sébastien Mure) contributed to the event by offering eCall and other safety related ITS applications themed promotional articles (brochures, gadgets, videos etc) to the public.
The Saturday’s programme was attended by the Minister of Defence of the Czech Republic Vlastimil Picek, the Minister of Transport Zdeněk Žák, State Secretary of the Kingdom of Sweden Carl von der Esche and many important guests from the Czech Republic, partner countries of NATO and others who all appreciated the event and recognized its importance.
In the week leading up to the Weekend show of NATO days, the Ministry of Transport organized two seminars for the general public. These seminars aimed at the promotion of the system of automated emergency calls eCall 112 and the use of global satellite navigation system and were attended by an international audience. On September 18, 2013 there was a National seminar about automated emergency call system for vehicles eCall 112 which also featured eCall functionality real crash test (more about the seminar here). An International workshop Galileo User Forum “Use of GNSS services for people with limited motion abilities or orientation” took place in Ostrava on Friday September 20, 2013 (more about the seminar here)
Background information
About NATO days, Ostrava, Czech Republic:
NATO Days is the largest airline, military and security event in Central Europe. Heavy military, police and rescue techniques were represented as well as dynamic demonstrations of Special Forces, air displays, equipment, kits and equipment units. NATO days are also an important social event where representatives of the private commercial sphere can meet their counterparts of the public sphere and local governments, representatives of top management of participants and partners of the event; as well as important guests from the political, commercial, academic, cultural, social or sports areas
For more information, visit the website: http://www.natodays.cz/
About HeERO:
HeERO addresses the pan-European in-vehicle emergency call service “eCall” which is based on 112, the common European Emergency number. Since January 2011, the nine European countries forming the HeERO consortium (Croatia, The Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands, Romania and Sweden) have carried out a three-year programme leading to the piloting and deployment of eCall.
The second phase of HeERO – HeERO 2 – started on 1st January 2013 and will last for 2 years. 6 new countries (namely Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain and Turkey) have joined the 9 pilot countries of HeERO 1. Furthermore, the project will welcome new associate partners, both commercial and public, who feel that they will be able to benefit from the expertise of HeERO 1 and 2 (associate status does not provide access to EU funding).
The HeERO consortium is currently testing and validating, in real-condition pilots, the common European eCall standards defined and approved by the European Standardisation Organisations.
The project is partially funded by the European Union under the ICT PSP programme.
For more information, visit the website: http://www.heero-pilot.eu/
About ERTICO – ITS Europe
ERTICO – ITS Europe is a multi-sector, public/private partnership pursuing the development and deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems and Services (ITS). We connect public authorities, industry players, infrastructure operators, users, national ITS associations and other organisations together and work to bring “Intelligence into Mobility”.
The ERTICO work programme focuses on initiatives to improve transport safety, security and network efficiency whilst taking into account measures to reduce environmental impact. Our vision is of a future transport system working towards zero accidents, zero delays and fully informed people, where services are affordable and seamless, the environment is protected, privacy is respected and security is provided.
For more information, visit the website: www.ertico.com
Last modified on Thursday, 26 September 2013
