BMW’s Smart Emergency Warning System Is Key For Riders
Driving a motorcycle is equal parts cool and dangerous. A crash could lead to severe bodily injuries, especially if the person riding the bike decides they don’t want to wear a helmet or protective gears as they take to the road. Unlike cars and trucks, motorcycles never really had the capability to call for help in case of an accident. BMW has changed that.
4 wheel vehicles have things like OnStar that a person can use to get help in case of an accident. Emergency things like that can help authorities find you and help you even if you’re in a remote location. If you’re on a bike, you could crash and slip into a ditch and never be found. It’s a scary though, but that’s where BMW comes in. BMW Motorrad is introducing a smart emergency system called “Intelligent Emergency Call” that will get help to the accident or emergency as quickly as possible.
You may be wondering if you’re on a bike, crash, and don’t get the chance to press the emergency button to call for help. They thought of that. The IEC’s acceleration and lean angle sensors will be able to detect if the bike falls or crashes. It will even know if the crash is severe or minor and will time the call accordingly: bad will get and immediate response, minor will give the biker the option to delay or cancel the call. If it’s bad enough, the IEC will will send out a call for help to the last location your bike was so that you get the help you need.
Scenario 1: Automatic triggering in the case of a bad fall / collision.
The emergency call is automatically triggered without time delay, sending a message to a qualified BMW Call Center. The accident victim/rider is taken care of by the BMW Call Center via audio connection until the emergency service arrives. Help is sent out in any case even if there is no response. A display in the instrument cluster shows that the eCall has been initiated. An acoustic signal is also set off. In this case the rider cannot cancel the emergency call any more.
Scenario 2: Automatic triggering in the case of a minor fall / collision.
In this case the emergency call is only triggered after 25 seconds before sending a message to the BMW Call Center. If no help is necessary after only a non-serious accident, the accident victim/rider has the opportunity of cancelling the emergency call at the press of a button. If he does not cancel, the rescue chain is initiated as in scenario 1. A display in the instrument cluster shows that the eCall has been initiated. An acoustic signal is also set off.
Scenario 3: Manual triggering by pressing a button
In this case the eCall is triggered manually by pressing the SOS button on the right handlebar end, e.g. for calling help for other road users in need. A message is sent to the BMW Call Center and a voice connection is established. A voice connection is mandatory if the eCall was triggered manually before further measures are initiated. Here too, the accident victim/rider is also given the opportunity to cancel the emergency call at the press of a button or by turning off the ignition. The intelligent emergency call can only be triggered manually when the motorcycle is stationary with the ignition on.
The IEC will launch in Germany first in early 2017, and then it will expand further into other European countries after a successful rollout there. So far, there is no announcements for countries outside of Europe, but since North and South America (Especially the USA) are obsessed with all things biking, I have no doubt that this device or similar ones will be here soon.
(Via Press Club)
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Jeff Sorensen is an author, writer and occasional comedian living in Detroit, Michigan. You can look for more of his work on The Huffington Post,UPROXX,BGR and by just looking up his name.
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