ASAP to PSAP – Faster Response to a Break-in Than a Car Crash!

It’s true.?A quarter century after the introduction of automatic crash notification in cars it is likely that your home alarm system will generate a swifter response than the crash alert potentially sent automatically from your car.?Of course, plenty of cars are not even equipped with automatic crash notification technology, and some that do require a subscription for it to function.

This bizarre state of affairs is due to the fact that the home alarm industry prioritized fast response by adopting so-called ASAP (Automated Secure Alarm Protocol – not what you thought, right?) technology enabled by third parties to ensure the simultaneous digital data transmission of break-ins, fire alarms, or other alerts directly to first responders even as call centers are attempting to contact home-owners.?It makes sense.?It’s an emergency.?There’s no time to lose – if it’s a false alarm the responders can be intercepted en route.

As for cars equipped with automatic crash notification technology, more often than not the call and data transmission go to a call center to be triaged.?The responder at the call center is responsible for interacting with the crash victim(s) and determining the nature of the response.?Data is sent to the call center which is then responsible for forwarding the information to first responders.

This automotive approach to creating a timely emergency response was pioneered by General Motors with OnStar and has subsequently been adopted by other auto makers with their own solutions and supported by operators such as ATX (now part of SiriusXM) and Bosch and others using technology from companies such as Intrado, NGA-911, RapidSOS, RapidDeploy, Carbyne911, and, lately, RoadMedic.?These companies have sought to fill the gap in data transmission by fielding the data sent by crashed automobiles and then forwarding that data to the appropriate first responders.?RoadMedic takes the added step of adding valuable contextual data resources from law enforcement and motor vehicle departments.

All of these parties are well intentioned and their solutions are highly sophisticated, but the fact remains that the insertion of a call center into the equation has added a delay to the emergency response. The acceptance of this approach has also meant that PSAPs have not evolved their next gen 911 capabilities toward Internet Protocol-based communications.

In an ideal world, the data from a crash scene – where airbags have been deployed – would be communicated directly to first responders.?The problem lies in the fact that most if not all first responders do not possess the equipment necessary to receive those transmissions – in the U.S.

In Europe, the European Union adopted and implemented the eCall mandate nearly five years ago.?The eCall mandate requires that auto makers equip all new type-approved vehicles with a connectivity module, sensors, and software capable of detecting a crash and immediately communicating a so-called minimum set of data regarding the crash event directly to first responders.

The eCall mandate was a first-of-its-kind solution intended to reduce the response time to severe crashes.?To achieve this objective the system required a Europe-wide upgrade of communication technology used by the relevant public service access points (PSAPs).?The technology in question – called in-band modem tech – was designed to allow for the transmission of crash data over voice channels.

With this legislation the European Union jumped to the forefront of global vehicle crash response preparedness.?Every new car – now amounting to nearly 10M – was equipped to send an automatic crash notification to the nearest PSAP.?No call center was necessary.

This isn’t to say that the eCall arrived with fanfare and widespread support.?There was opposition from car makers, wireless carriers, and even insurance companies and repair shops.?Car companies were opposed to the added cost and complexity.?Wireless carriers were opposed to devices pinging their networks but failing to generate revenue.?Insurance companies and repair shops wanted their own access to notification of crashes.

There were even more serious concerns as in the event of a crash occurring outside of wireless coverage.?And some wireless industry advocates objected to the use of in-band modem technology (data over voice) instead of a data over data approach or SMS.?Wireless executives also cautioned against the use of 2G or 3G networks in the mandate.

Europe is now faced with the sunsetting of both 2G and 3G networks – likely to terminate eCall connections to millions of cars within a few years.?And the in-band modem technology looks hopelessly outdated in a wireless market dominated by Internet Protocol-based communications.

The EU was on the right track, though, with regard to direct communications of crash data.?The U.S. is years away from offering a similar solution and a Federal mandate for automatic crash notification tech is highly unlikely.

To make matters worse, most of the new electric vehicles coming to the market from new entrants have not prioritized crash notification and response.?From Tesla and Lucid to Rivian and others, crash notification and response has been overlooked.?(Of course, Tesla knows when its vehicles crash - but for some reason has not seen fit to share this information with first responders.) So, while the driver of an ACN equipped car will wait longer than a home owner for emergency responders, many new EV owners will wait in vain for help with no ACN whatsoever.

The time has come to correct this failure and industry oversight.?At least one company, RoadMedic, is working to solve the problem – creating a platform for direct notification of first responders along with a cloud-based solution infused with essential vehicle, driver, and event data.

RoadMedic describes itself as a Tier 1 automotive supplier of a next generation 9-1-1 solution designed to be activated by an airbag deployment.?The company, like some of its partners, aggregates, translates, and transmits emergency data to first responders.

For now, third party aggregators, like RoadMedic, will be necessary to speed this vital information to its intended destination.?But if the European Union can resolve this value proposition (five years ago, no less), the U.S. ought to be able to set things right.?As long as we know what the issues and challenges are we should at least have a chance at getting this job done.?With lives at stake, first responders should definitely be arriving at crash scenes faster than they are arriving at house fires and break-ins.?Is that too much to ask??Does anyone care?

With more than a hundred daily fatalities on the highways and side streets of the United States, one would expect the automotive industry to be prioritizing crash response.?The time is now. Hopefully we don’t need a mandate to do the right thing.