BMW Assist Upgrades Automatic Collision Notification System

BMW of North America recently announced that 2009 and later model BMW vehicles (except X3)
feature BMW’s unique “Risk of Severe Injury” calculation when equipped with the BMW Assist
system. If an accident occurs, this BMW-exclusive system collects data from on-board
control units and transmits it automatically to the BMW Assist response center. There, the
data is evaluated using a unique algorithm to determine the probability of severe injury.
Rescuers can now be informed not only of where an accident took place, but also the risk of
severe occupant injury. Following a severe accident, BMW Assist helps ensure rescue
services are notified quickly and accurately. Now, using a predictive algorithm jointly
developed with the William Lehman Injury Research Center, BMW Assist’s Automatic Collision
Notification service has been enhanced to include more-detailed information about the
injury probability and type of collision to help the local emergency services determine the
most appropriate response team to dispatch. BMW introduced vehicles with Automatic
Collision Notification in model year 2000. This service helps ensure rapid response after a
crash by sending an alert promptly and automatically, including the accident location, and
then establishing a voice call. In the event of a severe accident, the BMW Assist system
will automatically transmit location and vehicle data to a response specialist. The
specialist then communicates verbally with the driver to determine the condition of the
vehicle’s occupants. Meanwhile, a second response specialist contacts the appropriate
Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) to request dispatch of emergency services, sharing the
vehicle’s transmitted location, based on GPS coordinates and information obtained from the
driver. Numerous sensors distributed around the vehicle shed light on the type of collision
and the resulting probability of injury. The deployment status of various safety systems in
the vehicle is ascertained along with front seat occupancy and seat belt engagement status
for the front seats. This information makes it possible to identify and differentiate
frontal, rear, side, and multiple collisions, and estimate the level of injury to
occupants. A video with complete information on BMW’s enhanced Automatic Collision
Notification service is available at www.bmwusa.com/news.