3GPP has come forward with new 3GPP specifications which will allow all vehicles in Europe to make a 112 emergency call with relevant data about an accident or major incident.

eCall is referred as an interoperable in-vehicle emergency call service. It is a project of the European Commission intended to bring rapid assistance to motorists involved in a collision anywhere in the European Union. According to reports from the European Commission, it is foreseen that eCall will be offered on all new vehicles in the EU by 2010.

eCall In-band Modem is used for reliable transmission of the eCall Minimum Set of Data (MSD) from an In-Vehicle System (IVS) to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) via the voice channel of cellular and PSTN networks.

The eCall In-band Modem uses the same voice channel as used for the emergency voice call. eCall allows reliable transmission of MSD alternating with a speech conversation through the existing voice communication paths in cellular mobile phone systems.

The expected benefit is that emergency services will be made aware of accidents much more rapidly, will get precise information on location, vehicle type etc. and therefore will be able to reach accident victims faster, with the potential to save many lives annually.

3GPP release 8 specification, 3GPP TS 26.267: "eCall Data Transfer; In-band modem solution; General Description", explains eCall system overiview, requirements and function details of eCall IVS & PSAP data modems.

While I tried to dig in about similar recommendation or regulation by Indian authorities but could not find one. India may follow same suite as European Union. It needs to be seen when similar service will be available in India too.