The ATX Group have announced that them and BMW France have obtained certification from the French Interior Ministry to provide ATX’s emergency notification and response, or eCall, service, which is standard in most models of BMW in France. Vehicles activated with the BMW Assist service provided by ATX use satellite location technology to pinpoint the location of a vehicle whenever airbags are deployed after an accident, or when the driver presses an in-vehicle SOS button to summon help.
The transmission of the location data is accompanied by an automatic phone call from the vehicle to the telematics response center, which subsequently then integrates that information with the crash and sensor data that is used to help indicate accident severity. This is then transmitted to emergency responders as well as information on file at ATX about the customer and the vehicle. After determining that an emergency truly exists, the telematics center then uses its proprietary database of emergency responders to identify the agency with jurisdiction at the site of the emergency and transmits information via voice.
Originally introduced in Germany, ATX has assisted BMW in expanding the coverage area of its location-based, in-vehicle emergency notification service to include most of the West European countries.
