Opel is demonstrating its OnStar connected vehicle service at this year’s ‘eCall Days Germany’ (16-18 September), the biggest international conference in Germany covering the European emergency call system for vehicles.
Participants include the European Commission, auto industry and component suppliers.
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Opel plans to introduce OnStar connected vehicle service across its passenger car range in some European countries, starting in 2015.
At the conference, Catherine Bishop, manager of global emergency services outreach and strategy at OnStar, and Gerrit Riemer, director of future mobility at Opel, will deliver a presentation on how OnStar assists public safety; in particular, they will discuss automatic crash response (ACR).
This feature automatically connects the vehicle to a specially trained emergency advisor the moment it detects a crash. If the driver or a passenger requests help, or cannot answer, emergency responders are sent to the vehicle.
OnStar also provides additional emergency assistance. If a driver, passenger or a bystander needs emergency help, they just press the emergency button inside the car for priority connection to an advisor who can contact fire, police or emergency medical services and guide them to the car.
The conference at the Representation of Lower Saxony at the Federal Government in Berlin gives an overview of the status of the introduction of eCall in Europe.
OnStar already has around 7m customers in the US, Canada, China and Mexico.
Advisors monitor the OnStar network 24/7, 365 days a year. On average, OnStar receives two calls every second, or 185,000 every day, and automatically responds to nearly 5,000 car crashes across the globe every month.
In addition to bringing OnStar to Europe, Opel will launch 4G LTE with which the car becomes a wi-fi hotspot for up to seven mobile devices.
