How Car Crash Detection Works On iPhone 14 & Apple Watch Series 8

This year when Apple launched the new iPhones and Apple Watch, there was an exciting theme around there being barely an upgrade that updated the computational capabilities of the devices. Apple instead focused on a new halo feature called “Car Crash Detection” on the new iPhone 14 models and the new Apple Watch Series 8, the new Apple Watch SE, and the ultra-premium Apple Watch Ultra. Apple has updated both devices with a suite of motion sensors, a new dual-core accelerometer and a new gyroscope which enable this new feature that can detect up to 256G of force in terms of crash detection. Mind you, this is a lot -- for context, in 2021, F1 world champion Max Verstappen collided with Lewis Hamilton at the British GP at Silverstone which landed him up in the hospital -- that was a 51G shunt. So, the Apple Watch and the new iPhone can detect impacts that are more than five times that landed the F1 world champion in hospital last year when the F1 cars were travelling at speeds of over 200 kmph. 

But F1 cars have something called the survival cell which is made of carbon fibre. Just for comparison, in the recent Cyrus Mistry accident in which a Mercedes GLC was involved, the vehicle was said to be at speeds of 100-140 km/h - the passengers in the back seat, including Mistry, passed away as they weren't wearing seat belts. While we don't know the g-forces involved, the impact would have been hefty. 

So how is Apple able to do this? Well, apart from the hardware, the software uses machine learning a type of AI technique. And this feature has been designed for sedans, minivans, SUVs, pickup trucks, and other passenger cars. Interestingly, Apple says that it hasn’t tested it enough for other kinds of vehicles like 2-wheelers, or bicycles. The way Apple has tested this feature it can detect front-impact, side-impact, and rear-end collisions, and rollovers. 

What happens when you’re in a crash? The iPhone will read out an alert and there will be an emergency SOS slider on the screen of the phone and an option to turn off the SOS. In case you can’t see the screen or are injured and cannot interact with the alert after 20 seconds, the iPhone will automatically inform emergency services. On the Apple Watch, there is no slider, but a button for emergency SOS and one to turn it off. 

On the iPhone in case, you are unresponsive within 10 seconds of the crash detection alert triggering on the phone, the device automatically triggers another 10-second counter. It also makes loud whoops to attract your attention. On the Apple Watch, Apple uses the taptic engine to make aggressive vibrations on your wrist to attract your attention. And if all this fails, that is when the devices alert emergency services and share your estimated latitude and longitude coordinates. Apple is using an upgraded GPS stack on both the new iPhone 14 models and the Apple Watch Series 8 which could help triangulate the location of the crash more precisely. 

After an automatic call is made, the phone and the Apple Watch play out a looped audio message that is played out from the speakers of the devices. For this Apple has upgraded the loudspeaker of the Apple Watch which is impressively loud on the Series 8 and SE. Initially, the volume of these looped messages is very loud at 5-second intervals but after a while, the volume is reduced so that in case emergency responders have reached the site of the accident, they can speak to you.  If you have set up emergency contacts, then a message will be sent to your emergency contacts with your location. And if you have set up a Medical ID, which should have critical information like your blood group, your phone will display a slider for it something that can be accessed by emergency medical services.