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© GM Company

How you deal with car crashes is going to change pretty soon

As car manufacturers focus more on services around the car, the concept of first response will change with it.

WHEN IT COMES to emergencies, timing is everything. How fast you ring services, how they figure out where you are and how fast they get out to you can be critical factors in an emergency.

While the focus on connected cars is to offer WiFi and real-time information – car manufacturers like Audi and BMW now offer their own connected service such as apps and traffic alerts – Opel is making a bigger splash in the area  come September.

OnStar, a communication service owned by Opel’s parent company General Motors, is bringing its on-demand services to Europe, with Ireland being one of 13 markets getting the 24-hour connection service. The service is already available in the US, Canada, Mexico and China and in the US, half of those who signed up to the trial signed up after it finished.

The service boils down to three main features: first response, car diagnostics and recovery – using built-in sensors to identify problems with your car or shutting it down remotely and tracking it if it’s stolen – and in-car WiFi for up to seven devices.

IMG_20150701_111208 There are three buttons on the roof: turn off GPS tracking, OnStar calling and SOS. Quinton O'Reilly / TheJournal.ie Quinton O'Reilly / TheJournal.ie / TheJournal.ie

The main feature that’s being pushed is the response team which is based at a command centre in Luton, England. This team uses a built-in communications system for you to contact them in case you get into an accident, experience a non-car related problem (eg: cardiac arrest) or just find yourself lost.

How it keeps in touch is through two different methods: GPS and cellular data. The former gives them an idea of where you’re based if you do get into trouble while the latter is for both contacting the command centre and proving WiFi.

Cars are able to fit in larger antennas for a more powerful signal so even if your phone doesn’t have reception, your car could still have a connection.

If you do get into an accident or your car is stolen, it will be able to tell where you are and share the relevant data with emergency services. Jon Hyde, OnStar’s director of international operations, confirmed that it will be working with organisations like the Garda Síochána if a vehicle is stolen.

IMG_20150701_111214 If you want directions to a specific location, you will have to connect to OnStar's command centre where they'll download directions for you. Quinton O'Reilly / TheJournal.ie Quinton O'Reilly / TheJournal.ie / TheJournal.ie

While the obvious reason for this is to detect accidents or help you if you’re lost – if you don’t want to be tracked, you can disable it by pressing a button – the other purpose is to help direct people to their destination.

The idea of chatting to someone to find a destination might not sound like your idea of fun, but there is merit behind the idea.

Apart from the obvious benefits if you get into an accident, if you’re in a different country, having someone figure out where you are and get you to where you need can be helpful, especially if you’re looking for amenities like a petrol station or hotel.

The other main features are WiFi and real-time diagnostics, which will pinpoint problems with your car and alert you to them before they grow. As a concept, it’s one that may save people time and money by knowing what needs to be fixed or replaced.

Probably the most intriguing inclusion is free roadside assistance for users. If you break down or your battery goes flat, then it will be covered by OnStar.

That could have repercussions for insurance services which offer similar perks. A faster, more efficient service that you can access with a single button press might be the key feature that will get it going.

The service will be available as a twelve-month free trial on certain Opel vehicles, before requiring a yearly subscription model after that. Official pricing has yet to be confirmed, but the basic service is expected to cost €99 per year.

WiFi services will be introduced in 2016 and will include data packages. The price has also yet to be confirmed but in the US, it costs between $5 – $50 per month.

Read: An Irish woman’s ‘Hailo for cleaners’ has just been bought for €32 million >

Read: This robot can build a house in just two days >

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13 Comments
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    Mute Tom Harpur
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    Jul 4th 2015, 8:21 PM

    Maybe futuristic but wouldn’t it be great that if the car or command centre detects the vehicle stolen that the car could be remotely deactivated.

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    Mute niall mullins
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    Jul 4th 2015, 8:36 PM

    I think you’ll find that the article states that that’s already possible. On the opposite end of the spectrum GM have already sued in the states for copyright of their systems meaning that any mechanic that wants to work on the car will not be granted access. They are essentially claiming ownership of your car. Where does big brother really end?

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    Mute Alien8
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    Jul 5th 2015, 12:32 AM

    all new cars will have to include eCall functionality from 2018, that is the car will have to be able to call emergency services autonomously from the person driving it. As part of this, car manufacturers will include tracking and vehicle safety monitoring to make sure you are not causing a crash due to tiredness, leaving a pub etc… big brother is already here, the issue will be to keep other government agencies from using and misusing this data.

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    Mute Pat O'Leary
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    Jul 4th 2015, 8:24 PM

    We will be taxed by the mile driven .

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    Mute Dave Meagher
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    Jul 4th 2015, 9:00 PM

    Another 2k grand for the fire brigade call out for a flat tire so. Fire services in this country scam more people than the friendly people calling from “Microsoft” in India .

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    Mute Danny O' Connor
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    Jul 4th 2015, 9:58 PM

    Scam people Dave? At the end of the day we are there to save life and render humanitarian services as well as provide scene safety at road based incidents. Let’s not forget a fire fighter and a guard were killed in 2007 attending a road traffic accident. A completely ridiculous comment.

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    Mute Dave Meagher
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    Jul 4th 2015, 10:32 PM

    I know of several people that rang other people to call the emergency line because they couldn’t simply afford the fire service charges. If you didn’t call them you don’t have to pay and you can’t send someone a bill for a service they didn’t receive.
    Imagine if the ambulance or Gardai did the same. Soon it will be case where you will be asked for a credit card before hand if you can’t afford it well watch your house burn sorry you were saying something about humanitarian??. Isn’t it tragic that that a service so vital is only available to those who can pay? Isn’t it tragic that a vital service is looked on as a revune generater by the parasites in the county council

    Funny you mention that incident out in kildimo as I know a few on that crew still working on call for 1 euro an hour, they do a dangerous job and for little or nothing pay wise but that doesn’t take away from the FACT that the county council’s go off scamming people then after and now insurance companies are now refusing to pay unless it’s an add on, so they look to screw average Joe.

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    Mute Danny O' Connor
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    Jul 4th 2015, 10:50 PM

    Take it up with your local councillors so….they voted in callout charges. Not the fire brigade, and definitely not the people who respond in fire engines to 999 calls…. Whom in fact are the ones providing the services I mentioned, it’s sad that you feel the need to belittle it when they are not to blame.

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    Mute Dave Meagher
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    Jul 4th 2015, 11:24 PM

    Sorry but you’re the one who took it upon yourself to take what I said as an attack on firefighter’s.

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    Mute Kerry Blake
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    Jul 4th 2015, 11:11 PM

    ” if you don’t want to be tracked, you can disable it by pressing a button” yeah right I believe you….

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    Mute Tony Murphy
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    Jul 4th 2015, 9:40 PM

    Not a bad idea, but needs a lot of tweaking by the sounds of it. What happens if you don’t pay your wifi bill?? Or out of coverage.?? An ejector seat to go with the deactivation when stolen would be class.

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    Mute Ahmed Skye Mukhtar
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    Jul 4th 2015, 9:46 PM

    That gives the government another reason to increase the car tax. A great idea and will be a huge success but lookin at the tax I’m not too sure.

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    Mute Get Lost Eircodes
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    Jul 5th 2015, 11:47 AM

    Is this article to soften up up ahead of the #Eircode launch next week? Eircode utterly no use for road traffic accidents and DCENR claim eCall will sort that…. yea over 20 years while the whole Irish car fleet gets renewed. Loc8 code on the other hand, that the DCENR used spurious, inaccurate, bogus, unsupported and false reasoning to not even consider when offered to the Irish state for free, is 100% ideal for RTAs

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