ESS and Volkswagen Collaborate to Demonstrate Breakthrough Cross-Automaker Safety Communications at CES 2024

 PRESS RELEASE 

 ESS and Volkswagen Collaborate to Demonstrate Breakthrough 

Cross-Automaker Safety Communications at CES 2024 

• Hazard Enhanced Location Protocol (H.E.L.P.®) Alerts are sent to oncoming motorists to provide advance warning when a passenger or commercial vehicle is disabled or inoperable along the roadway and at great risk from approaching vehicles 
• Emergency Safety Solutions (ESS) will highlight these technologies in action on a 2024 Volkswagen vehicle – including how they enable cross-manufacturer safety communication between Volkswagen and other vehicles – at CES and related events in Las Vegas in January 

HOUSTON (January 4, 2024) — Emergency Safety Solutions, Inc. (ESS) will showcase a dramatically safer reality for drivers and occupants of disabled and vulnerable vehicles at CES 2024 and the COVESA CES 2024 Networking Reception in January, presenting a breakthrough solution that significantly enhances foundational safety for all roadway users. 

ESS will demonstrate its lifesaving H.E.L.P.® solution on a 2024 Volkswagen Atlas with pre-production software. Ready for OEM implementation, H.E.L.P. protects drivers and other vehicle occupants by providing two forms of advanced warnings to oncoming drivers to alert them to – and help them avoid – disabled and vulnerable motorists on the roadway ahead. 

H.E.L.P. auto-deploys when conditions indicate a safety need, such as a tire blowout, driveline failure, airbag deployment or autonomous driving system safety stop. Drivers can also activate H.E.L.P. manually when their hazards are engaged, and the vehicle is in Park. Upon deployment, H.E.L.P. Digital Alerts are sent to oncoming drivers via their in-vehicle displays and GPS navigation apps via HAAS Alert’s Safety Cloud®. Simultaneously, H.E.L.P. Lighting Alerts deploy with a dramatically improved hazard flash pattern that is both faster and sharper than standard hazard lighting. 

These combined alerts provide unmatched situational awareness to drivers approaching disabled and vulnerable vehicles: 

• A 2022 study by Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed H.E.L.P. Lighting Alerts are more attention grabbing and cause oncoming drivers to slow down and move over significantly earlier and more often than standard hazard lights. 
• Digital alerts have been shown to reduce hard braking events by a staggering 80 percent, thereby reducing the likelihood of related crashes (source: Purdue University, 2021). 

The demo vehicle highlights the capability and flexibility of Volkswagen’s Car-Net connectivity platform, and the speed in which Volkswagen can implement important safety applications like H.E.L.P. Volkswagen is collaborating with Emergency Safety Solutions to test and validate these breakthrough safety features as an opportunity to protect Volkswagen drivers and everyone they share the road with using readily available technologies. 

"CES is the ideal forum to highlight how our OEM-ready H.E.L.P. safety feature prevents collisions with disabled and vulnerable vehicles. It’s a growing safety problem that tragically injures or kills tens of thousands of people annually worldwide,” said ESS CEO Tom Metzger. “Most crashes involving vulnerable motorists happen because oncoming drivers don’t see them until it’s too late. H.E.L.P. Digital and Lighting Alerts immediately make our roads safer for all drivers by making these vulnerable motorists much more visible.” 

ESS’s H.E.L.P. Lighting Alerts are available on most existing and all new Tesla vehicles in the U.S., as announced by Tesla in October via X (formerly Twitter). Additionally, Stellantis announced last May it is assessing H.E.L.P. Digital and Lighting Alerts for integration into its connected safety platforms. ESS is also collaborating with other passenger and commercial vehicle manufacturers globally to evaluate and implement H.E.L.P. Digital and Lighting Alerts across the industry. 

About Emergency Safety Solutions 

Emergency Safety Solutions is a certified minority owned enterprise whose mission is to save lives by eliminating preventable crashes involving vulnerable vehicles that are disabled and stopped on or near active roadways. This growing safety issue affects more than 75,000 people yearly in the U.S., with 15,000 injured or killed. ESS’ suite of H.E.L.P. solutions provide advanced lighting alerts and digital location-based alerts to greatly improve advance warning communications to drivers. For more information, visit https://www.ess-help.com. 

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Media Contact: 

Craig Keller | ESS Communications | ckeller@ess-help.com | 847-476-7543