Steering safer road travel in Spain using IoT light devices

Imagine you’re driving on your own in an area you don’t know when your car breaks down. You call your roadside assistance provider, but have trouble telling them exactly where you are. Or worse, you can’t get signal and have to leave your vehicle to get help.

With a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) emergency beacon, you can send your geolocation to the local traffic control system without even leaving your vehicle, thus avoiding the risk of being hit by other road users.

Safer journeys for road users

Vodafone’s Help Flash IoT beacon is a high-quality, autonomous, compact, lightweight and easy-to-operate connected emergency light that emits an intense flash in auto yellow that covers 360º. At night, it is visible in all directions more than a kilometre away.

In the event of an accident or breakdown, when the device is activated, a notification is immediately and automatically sent to The Spanish Department of Traffic (DGT) control centre indicating its exact location.

The information received by the DGT is anonymised but gives the department sight of all possible road incidents as they happen and means it can immediately warn other drivers of their position avoiding possible accidents.

This is a clear advantage in terms of road safety, since by connecting people, roads and machines and reducing response times, mortality in the event of accidents can be reduced.

A gear change for Spain

Recognising the value of this, Spanish authorities are making this technology compulsory come 2026.

The change comes after The Spanish Department of Traffic (DGT) found that 32 people were killed on Spain’s roads after leaving their vehicle when it had broken down, between the years 2019 and 2021.

Using light beacons is believed to be much safer than the current method of warning triangles because they keep drivers inside their cars and can reduce response times in an emergency.

Vodafone’s Help Flash IoT beacon, developed by the Galician company Netun Solutions, has become the first v16 connected light device made available to drivers in Spain since the approval of the Royal Decree on 20^th December. Vodafone Spain will also be the only operator in the country to sell the beacon.