“eCall (an abbreviation of "emergency call") is an initiative by the European Union, intended to bring rapid assistance to motorists involved in a collision anywhere within the European Union. The aim is for all new cars to incorporate a system that automatically contacts the emergency services in the event of a serious accident, sending location and sensor information. eCall was made mandatory in all new cars approved for manufacture within the European Union as of April 2018.”
Interestingly, everyone is actually scrambling to get the legislation changed or a replacement for eCall that works over 4G/5G before 2027 because 2G/3G is or is being shut down all over the place. Otherwise, technically, driving these cars could become illegal in the EU.
Assuming the tech is not abused, it makes perfect sense (GDPR Art. 6(1)(d)). And, in fact, abusing the tech would be a GDPR violation. You might consider it foolish, but it's not inconsistent.
Quite the opposite! Since people can have faith that they are protected by GDPR, they can have machines that actually work to help them, instead of hobbling them out of fear of being exploited.
How so? A manufacturer who's found to use this information for any purpose other than calling emergency services when you crash will go bankrupt because of the GDPR. This is a strong incentive not to.
Information can be sold or leaked, abused by a single employee for personal reasons, or used en mass for surveillance, regardless of what's written in the paper. Faith is actually an accurate term for this level of trust in government. I for one reject the notion of being tacked at all times by law.
All. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECall:
“eCall (an abbreviation of "emergency call") is an initiative by the European Union, intended to bring rapid assistance to motorists involved in a collision anywhere within the European Union. The aim is for all new cars to incorporate a system that automatically contacts the emergency services in the event of a serious accident, sending location and sensor information. eCall was made mandatory in all new cars approved for manufacture within the European Union as of April 2018.”