Stellantis Wants to Clear the Way for First Responders

• The Stellantis Emergency Vehicle Alert System is a no-cost V2X warning system for owners of 2018 to current Stellantis products.

• The multinational automaker says 1.8 million vehicles are currently enrolled in the EVAS system.

• Stellantis is also evaluating a way to alert motorists of a disabled vehicle ahead using a similar system.

Let’s face it, people don’t pay nearly as much attention behind the wheel as they should. Whether they’re playing a rousing game of Candy Crush, eating, or texting their friends about the latest episode of Succession, distracted driving is a plague on the roadways. While distracted driving is universally accepted to be bad, there is an overlooked side effect: delaying, impeding, or endangering emergency vehicles, and first responders. Well, the folks at Stellantis might have a solution to help address that problem.

Dubbed the Emergency Vehicle Alert System, this feature simply pops a warning notification onto a Stellantis vehicle’s Uconnect screen and makes a subtle alert. The message notifies the driver of an emergency vehicle oncoming, upcoming or stationary on the path ahead. The system’s notification is hard to miss on the screen, but the faint beep might initially confuse you.

This system works in the US and Canada with emergency and municipal vehicles equipped with HAAS Alert’s Safety Cloud system. A transponder sends a notification to Stellantis cars 2018 and newer that have enrolled in the Stellantis suite of connected services.

This also includes automated SOS calls in an accident and roadside assistance calls. This Safety Cloud transponder connects to the Stellantis network, which then relays equipped cars information about relevant emergency vehicles.