Focus Hatchback

Make
Ford
Segment
Hatchback

Knowing when an emergency vehicle needs to get by is a fairly self-explanatory affair. If an ambulance or fire truck is responding to an emergency, you'll typically know - the deafening siren and blinding lights will take care of that. Even though it's pretty much impossible not to see or hear an emergency vehicle coming, we are always staggered when people fail to get out of the way to let it pass. This may simply be due to a lack of driving education, but it could also be because people have their radios turned up and simply aren't paying attention. Ambulances in Sweden have the ability to jam radio so drivers will know they are coming, and Ford has a new solution that may be even better.

Ford has teamed up with Vodafone to create a new system that will alert drivers of accidents and incoming emergency vehicles, then instruct them on how to get out of the way. The new system is called eCall Plus, which builds on the existing ePlus technology that alerts emergency services when a car has been in an accident.

eCall Plus goes a step further by using the car's infotainment system to show drivers when an emergency vehicle is coming and instruct them to move to a specific side of the road to let it pass.

This technology will help drivers form an "emergency corridor," which will allow emergency vehicles to pass more easily. Experts estimate road accident victims have a 40% greater chance of survival if they arrive at the hospital just four minutes earlier. Of course, this system will only partially solve the issue because only Ford vehicles would be alerted and told which side of the road to pull towards. Still, we do see the benefits of this technology, and could easily envision it becoming widely available in the future.