PZU Group is undoubtedly Poland’s best-known insurance company and the largest in the CEE region. Last year was extremely successful for them – for the first time their revenue added up to over 4,2B PLN. Q1 of 2018 was even better; the company has already earned over 1B PLN.
They’re also staying abreast new technologies. Soon, they’re planning to introduce PZU GO, an innovative in-vehicle emergency call service. Right now, a pilot programme is being run with the help of PZU’s employees and the results are looking good! So how does it work?
The system is based on a small beacon, but what it can do is huge! All you have to do is install it inside your car, on the windshield. If anything dangerous happens, the device will automatically connect with an app on your phone via Bluetooth and send an alarm signal to the PZU Emergency Centre. Then, the employees will try to contact the driver. If they don’t pick up, PZU Emergency Centre will contact the emergency services.
You don’t have to worry about your personal data, though! The device will only forward the details and the car’s location if there was no response from the driver. Any other data will only be recorded on request. What’s more, the beacon is completely self-sufficient and will operate without issues for three years.
While the solution itself isn’t the newest, it will certainly come in handy in Poland. PZU GO is similar to eCall, which was made mandatory in all new cars sold within the EU from April 2018. However, the average car age in Poland is over 10 years, therefore it’ll take some time for the technology to reach us. Let’s put things into perspective; just last year over 2800 people died in car accidents, and over 39000 were injured. That’s why PZU GO is such an important initiative; it could help saving thousands of lives.
“We want to be sure that the hardware and software will work correctly in every situation, and can distinguish a real accident from other traffic incidents. We are testing whether the device always contacts our Emergency Centre,” explains PZU. “If the system can save just one life, then our work wasn’t in vain. When a tragedy strikes, every second matters.”
All that sounds great! Hopefully, everyone will recognise the worth of such a solution and install it in their car. PZU is planning to officially launch the service in the autumn.
If you want to learn more, come to Impact’18, on June 13th & 14th in Krakow! It’s going to be informative and fun! You can buy tickets here.
PZU is Impact’18 Strategic Partner.
