A pilot project testing distress signals (eCalls) to locate vehicles involved in cross-border emergency situations between France and Germany has been joined by ATX.

The project, run by DEUFRANKO, aims to analyse the differences in French and German solutions for transmitting eCalls from vehicles.

German firm ATX said the findings of the study will be used to ensure pan-European cross-border standardisation and interoperability for routing eCalls.

The system could be activated manually by motorists facing an emergency or automatically by in-vehicle crash sensors allowing the accident to be dealt with as efficiently as possible.

ATX managing director Arnaud de Meulemeester said the company was honoured to be involved in this study, which it believes has the potential to save lives and make the roads safer for all users.

DEUFRAKO is an organisation set up to fund French-German bilateral research projects.