One of the co-founders of Connected vehicle safety specialist consultancy VESOS, Andy Rooke, is stepping back from his day-to-day role with the company to take on a more strategic position, while continuing to support its work to improve road safety.
Mr Rooke co-founded VESOS after a career spanning operational roads policing, public-safety communications and the development and deployment of eCall technology across Europe.
After completing 31 years in the Police Service, specialising in roads policing and serving as a Senior Investigating Officer for road deaths, his growing expertise in telematics and Intelligent Transport Systems led to him becoming a technical adviser to UK police and roads-policing organisations elsewhere in Europe.
Mr Rooke’s operational experience subsequently helped shape his involvement in eCall, through which vehicles can automatically notify emergency services following a serious collision.
Beginning with the European eMERGE project in 2002 and later GST RESCUE, he became one of the leading figures in taking eCall “from PowerPoint to product”, helping transform the technology from a concept into an operational European safety system.
While at ERTICO – ITS Europe, Mr Rooke coordinated the HeERO programme, which brought countries together to prepare their 112 emergency-response infrastructure for eCall. He later worked as Technical Implementation Officer on I_HeERO, addressing areas including eCall for heavy goods vehicles, coaches and powered two-wheelers, integration with emergency systems and the development of Next Generation eCall.
His contribution has also extended to European standards and public-safety communications. He has been involved with CEN TC278 Working Group 15, served for almost eight years as a Vice President of British APCO and sat on the UK Government’s 999 Liaison Committee. British APCO awarded him life membership in 2024 in recognition of his contribution to public-safety technology.
Mr Rooke went on to establish VESOS with Danny Woolard, Andy Graham and Alan Gentle. The company provides eCall consultancy, analytics and incident-alerting solutions designed to improve road safety and emergency response times.
Although now moving away from his operational responsibilities, Mr Rooke will remain involved in the business and help guide its longer-term direction.
He said: “Much of my career has been dedicated to turning eCall from an idea into something capable of making a real difference when a serious collision occurs.
“I am immensely proud of what we have built at VESOS and remain convinced that the better use of eCall data can make a major contribution to road safety. While I am stepping back from the day-to-day role, I look forward to continuing to support the company strategically and helping it realise that potential.”
(Picture – Andy Rooke)
