black box in cell phones, text messages could save lives

Not only is it able to detect crashes and accidents, it can also react autonomously, calling for help through the activation of pre-set contacts. Promoting its spread is the Florentine architect and businessman Ghigo Capasso, previously Alfa Romeo driver and Italian motorcycle champion in the 1970s and now chairman and managing director of one of the many start-ups created over the past few years in the Middle Eastern mini 'Silicon Valley' of Tel Aviv and the surrounding area. Capasso said that Rescue is actually a more intelligent version (and one respectful of privacy) of the black box that all European cars will have to be equipped with in the near future. However, it is also an instrument with a potentially much wider use: presented as a "lifesaver for bikers, cyclists, skiers, excursionists, pedestrians, the elderly and women who are alone and threatened by any sort of danger". The 'miracle' was made possible due to a complex and revolutionary algorithm created by very young Israeli physicists and mathematicians who have become partners of Capasso's start-up: a mechanism which enables the application (for the time being compatible only with Android systems) to detect precisely the repercussions of possible falls or accidents, to react (even when the phone is switched off) and activate itself, sending text messages and calling with a speakerphone when the user is not able to move due to trauma suffered (or when rendered unable to due to an attack). In Italy Rescue has recently passed the car crash test in line with European protocols. It is also able to dialogue with the Samsung-Italia, Motorola-Italia and Vodafone systems, with which those in charge of the project have commenced contact. Talks for possible use, in line with the regulations currently under discussion in the EU, are also underway with the European federations of motorcyclists and amateur racing cyclists, Capasso underscored to ANSA. For the latter groups, he noted, the application "can serve as a single means, in terms of effectiveness, for the activation of immediate rescue in need."