Apple working on car crash detection feature for iPhones and Apple Watches

• Apple plans to release a car crash detection feature for the iPhone and Watch next year.
• Once a car crash is detected, the Apple device would dial 911 if there’s no response from the user.
• Apple will use data from sensors like the accelerator to detect possible car crashes.

Apple is reportedly working on a car crash detection feature for iPhone and Apple Watch. The new feature is being planned for next year and it is expected to arrive as early as the start of 2022, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

The new feature would be called “car detection” and it will work on both the iPhone and Apple Watch. Apple is planning to use data from sensors like the accelerator that’s built into the Apple devices to detect when there’s a “sudden spike in gravity” or if there’s any force on impact. Similar to the fall detection on the Apple Watch, this feature too would dial 911 if there’s no response from the user.

There are multiple reports of Apple’s fall detection feature saving people’s lives from near-fatal accidents, and the new car crash detection feature could do the same too. But Apple may not go ahead with the feature at all, according to documents seen by the WSJ. Or it could change the timing of the feature release.

Apple has been working on the car crash detection feature for quite some time, and to determine the importance of it, the company has been analysing data shared anonymously from iPhone and Apple Watch users. It gathered data of car crashes that included calls to 911 which according to Apple helps improve the accuracy of its car crash detection algorithm. The documents also revealed that Apple products have detected more than 10 million suspected vehicle impacts and out of which 50,000 of them included calls made to 911. But there’s no clarity on how exactly this data is being shared with Apple.

This feature may sound new to Apple users but it’s been around for years on the Google Pixel smartphones. Google uses the phone’s location, motion sensors and nearby sounds to detect a possible car crash, and then call emergency services, and even sends the approximate location along with the car crash data. Apple’s car crash detection feature sounds quite a bit like the one available on the Google Pixel but we’ll have to wait and see how exactly it would work when it officially launches.

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