The way has been cleared for the next major innovation designed to improve the safety of the drivers and occupants of all vehicles.

The European Union has ruled that, by April 2018, all new cars rolling off the production lines of the factories in all member states will have to be fitted with an aircraft-style black box.

However, officials from the UK’s outgoing Conservative administration have come out against the plans on the grounds of their likely high cost. Other critics also want more safeguards to be put in place before the technology is made mandatory which will protect the rights and privacy of all drivers.

How the technology works

The proprietary system, known as eCall, links a vehicle’s entertainment and information system to satellite and telecoms networks.

In the event of a vehicle then being involved in an accident, the system can send an automatic alert to the nearest emergency control centre, thereby alerting the emergency services even if the driver and occupants of a vehicle are in no condition to call for help themselves.

They will automatically receive details of the time of any incident, its location, and the direction of travel, so that vital time can be saved in directing emergency help to the scene.

It has been estimated by European Commission officials that such a system could be installed in every car at a cost of under £90.

Ahead of the curve

As might be expected in such a highly technology-driven world as the motor industry, several manufacturers have already been working on their own versions of such a system, among them BMW, which also owns MINI.

However, with the recent move by officials in Strasbourg, the technology is likely to have to be fitted to all new cars and small commercial vehicles by 31 March 2018.

Assurances have been given by manufacturers that the tracking capabilities of any such system will not be used outside of emergency situations.

And safety campaigners could well be won over by the prospect of such technology being able to play a major role in helping cut some of the 25,700 deaths toll which occurred on roads in the EU in 2014.

Answering long-standing calls

There has been pressure for technology along these lines to be introduced since 2004 from within the car industry itself. The owner of MINI, BMW, as a member of the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, has been at the forefront of moves advocating such a system – meaning that Cooper MINI dealerships could be one of the first places where it can be seen.

The motivation for introducing such a system, and the laws needed to make it a compulsory requirement lies mainly in the Commission’s own research, which has suggested that emergency services’ response times in the event of a serious crash can be cut by as much as 60 per cent in urban areas, and be halved in more rural places.

Motoring organisations say that there is no question that cars and their drivers and occupants will benefit from the introduction of such a system – but their doubts instead surround whether the emergency services themselves have the infrastructure and resources in place to enable them to meet a likely increase in demand for their critical services.