Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Ireland launches drive to fit cars with 'black boxes'

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2003 19:58:48 -0500

Ireland launches drive to fit cars with 'black boxes'
By John Griffiths in London

Published: November 5 2003 19:07 | Last Updated: November 5 2003 19:07
Like nearly all severe road accidents, the crash when it comes is
shocking in its suddenness and devastating in its consequences: tangled
wreckage; inert bodies; the remains of each car calling urgently for
help.

That is not a misprint. Under a new technology initiative revealed joint
ly on Wednesday by the Irish government, IBM and US safety systems group
SIS, tens of thousands of cars will soon be fitted with "black boxes"
that will flash both the location and the severity of a crash to
emergency services.
The data will go also to accident investigation bodies for longer-term
analysis.

In the European Union, the first region to get the technology, the data
will be collected and analysed at a new European Safety Data Vault that
Ireland - which assumes the EU presidency on January 1 - has opted to
house for the entire EU.

Within five years, say the partners, millions of cars in both Europe and
North America should be fitted with the devices to improve road safety,
speed up emergency services' responses, reduce insurance costs and, not
least, slash the annual ?160bn ($180n, £109bn) economic impact of road
accidents across the EU.
Brussels has set a target of halving the region's 40,000 road deaths a
year by 2010, using advanced information technology - known as
telematics - by a key component of the strategy.

The Irish government's concern about the economic impact of Ireland's
own road traffic toll - some ?2bn a year - has provided the catalyst for
the venture, although IBM and SIS intend to roll out the technology in
North America shortly.

It is not unique: the UK insurance group Norwich Union has begun trials
of a similar system to provide data on mileage and other factors for a
"pay as you drive" insurance plan. However, the technology is also IBM's
in partnership with the UK communications group Orange.

Neither IBM nor SIS would disclose on Wednesday the size of their
investment in the project. However, they said that the current $300 cost
of installing a unit was expected to be at least halved as volumes built
up over the next two to three years.

They expect to earn their revenue from vehicle makers, insurance groups,
public transportation groups and large fleet operators.

Minorplanet, the UK-headquartered vehicle management information group
which operates 200,000 vehicles across Europe, is to be the first
large-scale customer for the system. The black boxes are to be
manufactured by a third partner, Celestica.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1066565658217&p=1012571727166

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