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Apple announces a new life-saving feature -- Crash Detection
If you have ever feared being in a car crash with no one to help you, Apple has a solution. Wednesday, during the 'Far Out' Apple Event, Apple announced its new Crash Detection feature, which will detect a car crash, connect you to emergency services, provide dispatchers with your location and notify your emergency contacts.
The Crash Detection feature will be available on the all new Apple Watches and iPhones announced at the event, including the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro, Apple Watch Series 8, Apple Watch Ultra and Apple Watch SE.
Both the watches and the phones are able to detect the crash by feeling, hearing and measuring the crash. To do this, the devices utilize the latest technology such as gyroscopes, accelerometers, microphones, barometers and real-world data.
The first way the watch can detect a car crash is by monitoring sudden changes in speed and direction through the use of an accelerometer and the gyroscope.
The new g-force accelerometer senses accelerations and decelerations up to 256 Gs while the high dynamic range gyroscope monitors drastic changes in the car's direction.
The devices can also detect a crash by monitoring changes in the atmosphere through the use of a barometer and microphone. The barometer detects pressure changes in the car caused by airbags that deploy in accidents, while the microphone identifies extreme sound levels of collision.
In addition to all of the technology in the device, Apple has developed advanced motion algorithms by performing head-on, rear-end, side-impact, and rollover crash tests. The algorithms use 1 million hours of real-world driving and crash data, according to Apple.
In addition to car crashes, the watches can detect if you have taken a bad fall and connect you with emergency services if you are unresponsive.