出事儿自动报警的车，要不要？
想象一下在路上开车时，突然发生事故，虽然不是很严重，但你还是有些惊慌失措，你知道该给谁打电话么?假如事故严重，你失去了意识或者被困住，无法拨打求助电话，又该怎么办呢?
These are the kinds of situations that prompted the European Union to pass a law requiring all new vehicles sold there be equipped with technology called eCall. The system automatically contacts emergency services when there's a car accident, no matter how minor.
这些情况促使欧盟通过一项法案，要求全部在售新车配备紧急呼叫(eCall)。这个系统会在发生哪怕很小的事故时自动联系应急服务。
The law was proposed in April 2013, passed by the European Parliament two years later, and took effect in April 2018.
该法案在2013年4月提交，两年后被欧洲议会通过，并在2018年四月生效。
How it Works
如何运作
The eCall system connects the vehicle's occupants to a human operator at the proper Public Safety Answering Point (in other words, a call center) for the vehicle's location. The center will receive a set of data to assist them, including the location of the accident, information about the vehicle (such as its VIN), the route the vehicle was traveling (i.e. northbound or southbound), and whether the system was manually or automatically activated.
应急呼叫系统会使车主与当地的公共安全应答中心的人工服务取得联系以获得车辆位置。中心会接收到一系列数据，包括事故位置、车辆信息(如车辆识别码)、行驶路线与系统的触发方式(手动或是自动)。
ECall won't necessarily help prevent collisions, but it has the potential to save lives by getting help to injured motorists as quickly as possible.
这个系统虽无法阻止事故发生，但是它能够通过尽快寻求帮助来挽救受伤司机的生命。
If the eCall system sounds familiar, it is similar to other emergency onboard telematics systems already equipped on vehicles. However, in the United States, these are optional services offered by auto manufacturers, and often require paid subscriptions.
这个系统并不陌生，它其实类似于其它已有的车载远程信息处理系统。然而在美国，这种系统是由汽车制造商提供的可选服务，通常会收取费用。
General Motors, for instance, has offered its OnStar service since 1996, and during that timeframe, the company has collected extremely valuable data, including why it is important to have human operators.
例如通用汽车，从1996年起就提供OnStar服务，在这期间，通用收集了非常有价值的数据，包括为什么要配有人工服务。
The eCall mandate was originally proposed to work simply by connecting the cars to a computer operator, but OnStar's two decades of data helped explain why that would be a bad idea: false-positives. The data showed that in the early days of Onstar, seven out of 10 calls were false-positives. So having human operators will determine if the calls actually require an emergency dispatch or not.
最初eCall的设计只是简单的将车辆与电脑应答联系起来，但是OnStar二十年的数据解释了为什么这并非一个好的设计：误报。数据显示早期OnStar十分之七的呼叫是误报。因此配有人工服务能够识别是否真的需要调度应急服务。
The Privacy Issue
隐私条款
But not everyone seems to be on board. In order to provide accurate information to emergency services, vehicles with eCall must be traceable, and since eCall is now mandatory, that data can be shared whether vehicle owners like it or not. The transmission of this data, particularly location details, has caused critics to question the safety and security of the eCall system as it relates to privacy. The eCall regulations require manufacturers of eCall systems (such as automakers and tech companies) and service providers (telecom companies that transmit the data) to comply with specific privacy rules, procedures and precautions.
并非所有人都愿意参与其中。为了给紧急服务提供准确的信息，配备eCall的车辆必须被跟踪，一旦强制配置eCall，无论车主是否愿意，车辆的信息都会被上传。数据的传输，尤其是位置信息，引起了评论的对eCall隐私安全性的质疑。eCall规定要求生产商和服务提供商遵守特定的隐私条例、程序及注意事项。
Despite privacy concerns, that data can be useful beyond its life-saving potential, according to TechRepublic. It will be helpful in developing new technology, such as self-driving cars, and it can be used to refine and improve telematics systems going forward.
TechRepublic网站提到，尽管存在隐私问题，数据除了挽救生命还会有更大用处。它会帮助开发例如自动驾驶等新技术，还可以用来改善和提高未来的远程信息处理技术。
So can drivers in the United States anticipate technology like eCall anytime soon? According to Jose Ucles, a public affairs representative from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), probably not.
那么美国的司机们是否也期待eCall这样的技术呢?国家公路交通安全管理局公共事务代表Jose Ucles表示，并不。
"If a law were passed, it would be our job to figure out how to implement it — probably by establishing a regulation," Ucles says via email. "Historically, the regulatory development and implementation process can take years from start to finish and includes a public notice and comment period for each regulatory action."
“如果法案通过了，如何落实它可能就是我们的工作了，可能要通过制定规则来实现，” Jose Ucles在邮件中提到。“历来监管措施的制定和推广过程会持续多年，包括每项监管措施的公告和咨询期。”
