In Europe, cars automatically call for help if they crash | Hacker News Reader

In Europe, cars automatically call for help if they crash

unlikekinds.com

4 pointswhalabi8 comments

Step by step towards 1984.

This should be optional, not mandatory technology for new cars. I don't want a cellular module that reports its location in any of my cars, new or old, so why is this being forced through?

The argument of improved safety is a poor one. You could use the same argument to make 8 air bags mandatory minimum, demand that only 5-star rated cars can be sold, that cars have ejection seats, tow a mobile clinic with a doctor and a nurse, or about a million other things that would objectively improve car safety but also make cars further unavailable to many people.

And this will get misused too. Today it may send location after a collision; tomorrow's firmware update can easily change that. And once users have the hardware, software features will follow.

Merely playing devil's advocate here but I'm not entirely sure that a cellular module that knows where you are is really any worse than having your mobile phone in your pocket pinging off local cell towers or your number-plates being seen by ANPR-enabled cameras road-side (of which there are probably a lot more than we realise).

So what you're saying is that privacy is already dead, so we might as well keep making or worse?

I suppose what I'm saying is that you need to weigh up all the factors.

Generally we're all happy enough for our phone operators to know where we are with not-terrible accuracy since so many of us choose to walk around with a phone in our pockets. In the event that you get into a potentially fatal collision, is your privacy more important than a first responder being able to actually find you?

I argue that my or anyone else's right to choose and decide whether we want this feature in our cars is more important than lives saved by making this technology mandatory in all new cars sold.

Everyone who has watched an episode of CSI: Anywhere knows this about mobile phones. While you can turn off the phone or leave it behind easily, the same cannot be done with a module built into the car.

That's a fair point, yeah.

Last year, there were 25,700 fatalities on EU roads and motorways. eCall is expected to reduce emergency response time by 40 percent in built-up areas and 50 percent in the country, and it's believed the system could save as many as 2,500 lives each year. Sehnalova said eCall would also benefit tourists in the EU, because "when you cross a border you have a language problem and often do not even really know where you are." The vehicle's location is established using satellite navigation systems such as Galileo — the European equivalent of GPS.

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