ENTERPRISE established a working relationship with General Motors’ OnStar during the Multi-Jurisdictional Mayday (MJM) project in the late 1990s to explore how automatic collision notification (ACN) technology could enhance roadway safety and traveler information if data from such systems were available to emergency medical staff and transportation agencies. In the years since, OnStar has worked diligently with the Association of Public Safety Communications Officials (APCO) and the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) to establish parameters around the crash data that they can provide. Using those parameters, OnStar has published a data stream for emergency services and transportation agencies to use.
In addition to the safety and convenience services offered by OnStar, similar services are being offered by other automobile manufacturers. For example, Ford provides a service called SYNC that literally syncs your mobile phone with your vehicle to provide various safety functions, and Hyundai offers Assurance Connected Care as a standard feature for three years on most of their new vehicles. Insurance companies are also providing similar safety and rate reduction services such as In-Drive offered by State Farm.
Given the evolution and potential value of crash notification technology, this project researched the current data available from OnStar and similar telematics service providers, suggested the value of such data for transportation operations, and worked with ENTERPRISE member agencies to understand how they could use this type of data. This summary report provides information about the data currently available from telematics service providers and suggests the potential value of such data for transportation agency operations.