Through both design and soundproofing materials, considerable attention has gone into models under the Stellantis brand to keep road, wind, and other unwanted noise out of the cabin. In addition, models have been equipped with sound systems to play your favorite tunes from base systems, scaling all the way up to the incredible McIntosh audio system in the Jeep Grand Cherokee model line. The challenge is that there are some sounds from outside that you are meant to hear. The whole point of emergency vehicle sirens is to alert others on the road of their presence.
EVAS Gets the message Through to You
Stellantis’ solution to this paradox is the Emergency Vehicle Alert System (EVAS) which uses Uconnect to alert drivers when emergency vehicles or roadway hazards are nearby. EVAS has been a standard feature of Uconnect on all models since the 2018 model year and thus is already on 1.8 million Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, and Jeep® brand vehicles in the United States and Canada. In other words, any new car Benna CDJR has sold for the past five years.
EVAS works by integrating with the HAAS Alert Safety Cloud, the nation’s largest vehicle-to-everything (V2X) platform for digital alerting. How it works is that emergency vehicles, as well as tow trucks and work zones, send a V2X signal into the Safety Cloud, which then sends it to any vehicle that can receive it, to notify its driver of their presence. That alert cuts through the vehicle’s soundproofing and pauses the audio system with an audio beep accompanied by an explanation on the infotainment display. The system can often inform you if the emergency vehicle is ahead or behind you.
“The widespread deployment of EVAS in North America demonstrates how Stellantis is harnessing the power of V2X connectivity and in-vehicle technology to make mobility safer for our customers,” said Yves Bonnefont, Stellantis chief software officer. “Care for our customers that is second to none in every market where we sell is the foundation of our transformation to a mobility tech company. We’re proud to be the first global automaker to make V2X digital alerting a standard safety feature for our connected customers, and we are continuously looking to expand its capabilities.”
HELP is on the Way
The next step in the process will be what is known as Hazard Enhanced Location Protocol (HELP) in which a disabled vehicle can send a notice of its location to the HASS Alert Safety Cloud, which transmits a notice to vehicles in the same manner as EVAS. This will give drivers about 15-20 seconds of advance warning of the disabled vehicle’s location, which is roughly a quarter mile at highway speeds. Just consider how useful this can be in a heavy storm or thick fog when vehicles may have had an incident but, even with hazard lights, may not be visible until they are very and possibly too close.
HELP can be activated manually by the driver when the vehicle is stationary or automatically in safety-critical situations, such as collisions or tire blowouts. It is possible it could be activated automatically when the hazard lights are activated.
“Technology we offer today helps set the stage for future vehicle innovations,” said Mamatha Chamarthi, Stellantis head of global software business management. “It begins with the foundation that safety should come standard. It grows from there to offer owners convenience features on demand when they connect, enroll and subscribe. These software capabilities result in an enhanced and highly valued customer experience with our iconic brands.” As mentioned, EVAS has been on Stellantis vehicles since the 2018 model year, and many owners may not have been aware of it until they received their first alert and then wondered how that alert happened. HELP has not been fully developed as of yet, but look for it on future models from Benna CDJR.
Connect with us
