{"id":33352,"date":"2022-10-11T00:03:50","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T04:03:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=33352"},"modified":"2022-10-11T00:03:50","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T04:03:50","slug":"apple-watch-crash-detection-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=33352","title":{"rendered":"Apple offers a deeper dive into Crash Detection | Autoblog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple\u2019s recent hardware<\/span> events have been punctuated by a touch of doom and gloom. It\u2019s a tonal shift from the usual celebratory nature of these presentations \u2014 all by design, of course. The Apple Watch was the first to the party. Features like AFib readings<\/a> and Fall Detection gave way to video testimonials from users who survived close calls thanks to the wearable.<\/p>\n

At September\u2019s Far Out event, the company introduced another feature that falls into the category of updates you\u2019ll hopefully never need. Crash Detection for the iPhone and Apple Watch has since proven to be something of a misunderstood addition, due in part to the fact that it\u2019s an extremely difficult one to test.<\/p>\n

Last week, TechCrunch<\/a> sat down with a pair of Apple executives for a conversation about the feature\u2019s ins and outs. Vice president, Sensing & Connectivity, Ron Huang, and vice president, Worldwide iPhone Product Marketing, Kaiann Drance, answered some of our burning questions about Crash Detection, to give us a better picture of what Apple\u2019s latest safety brings to the table for iPhone and Apple Watch users.<\/p>\n

The addition of the feature arrives in large part courtesy of a new Gyroscope and Accelerometer. \u201cIt\u2019s mostly the G Force detection,\u201d says Drance. It\u2019s able to detect G Force up to 256 Gs. That was one of the key differences for the new accelerometers that the new watches and phones have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Huang adds, \u201cIt started off with our fundamental understanding of what is experienced during a crash. In these crashes, you see impact forces over 100 (Gs). We started around 256. Any time you try to increase that range, there are trade-offs, in terms of precision at the higher range and the power costs. It took the team a lot of work to build the sensors in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new gyroscope, meanwhile, is designed to sense speed changes more quickly than the older versions. As for the myriad other ways in which the components are utilized on the devices, Apple says, \u201cthey provide the same great level of performance for other things like camera stabilization, playing games, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the gyroscope and accelerometer are just two of the sensor pieces here. The list also includes the GPS<\/a> to determine that the user is traveling at high speeds, the microphone to monitor for the sounds of a crash and the barometer, which detects the change in pressure that occurs when airbags<\/a> are deployed. Not all of the systems have to collect associated data to trigger the system. For example, if the car\u2019s windows are down, the change in barometric pressure will be too subtle to impact the reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no silver bullet, in terms of activating crash detection,\u201d says Huang. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to say how many of these things have to trigger, because it\u2019s not a straight equation. Depending how fast the traveling speed was earlier, determines what signals we have to see later on, as well. Your speed change, combined with the impact force, combined with the pressure change, combined with the sound level, it\u2019s all a pretty dynamic algorithm.\u201d<\/p>\n

The system does, however, need to detect multiple data points at once, so simply dropping the phone in a moving car shouldn’t accidentally trigger the feature.<\/p>\n

\n \"\" <\/p>\n

Image Credits:<\/strong> Apple<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI actually had a rear-end fender bender when I was in New York earlier,\u201d says Drance. \u201cMy crash detection did not go off, because it\u2019s just one of those minor things where you just get out of your car and keep going. That\u2019s part of the sensor fusion and accuracy, because we don\u2019t want to be doing a lot of false calls to 9-1-1 when they\u2019re not necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company notes that the feature isn\u2019t specifically designed for something like — god forbid — a train crash, though it adds that other features like Fall Detection have been used for cases outside their initial design. \u201cWe think Crash Detection could potentially be that, too,\u201d says Huang.<\/p>\n

Bluetooth and Carplay are also used to determine that you\u2019re in a car, though neither are strictly necessary for the feature. \u201cOn top of that, we added a lot of signals,\u201d says Huang. \u201cWhether it\u2019s road noise or engine noise, we can see that. We can see that the Wi-Fi routers that you\u2019re using are changing very rapidly — faster than if you\u2019re walking or biking and so forth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apple worked with a number of crash labs to gather the necessary data and perform real-world testing, in order to assure an acceptable level of efficacy for the feature. It\u2019s intentionally difficult to trigger outside the intended scenario, so you don\u2019t accidentally call emergency services. That also goes for if your phone accidentally falls from the mount while driving, or even a less severe crash.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe put iPhones in many different places throughout the car — on the dummies and the car itself and mounts and so forth,\u201d says Huang. \u201cAnd then we collect all of the raw sensor data coming from these devices during such a crash. We put cameras inside and outside the cars, as well, so from the footage, you can time the actual impact, what the pressure sensors see when the airbag goes off in slow motion. We\u2019re able to look at data in high fidelity. We also look at DATA from the Department of Transportation or the NHTSA<\/a> (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration<\/a>) to understand what kinds of crashes are the leading causes of injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The company didn\u2019t offer an exact number of car crashes that were required to create the final dataset, but did imply that it was more than \u201cdozens\u201d and added that “thousands” of its own devices were used in the process. Apple says such real-world crashes are difficult to simulate, particularly ones that can check off the necessary boxes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to see how the system might be the most valuable to drivers in rural areas. After all, getting into a crash in a more populated area significantly increases the chances of someone nearby being around to report the accident. In a more remote area — especially in the case when it\u2019s a one-party crash involving an object like a tree — the feature could be a potential lifesaver.<\/p>\n

However, much like bystanders, wireless signals can be harder to come by in such areas.<\/p>\n

\n \"\" <\/p>\n

Image Credits:<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cJust like any 9-1-1 call, we would attempt to dial it first over your network. If your network is not available, we will try to route to any other available carrier, even if it\u2019s not the carrier that you have with your SIM. When there\u2019s no coverage, this will be linked to the emergency SOS via satellite feature. If you happen to get into an accident like that, and there\u2019s absolutely no coverage where you are, we will still try to connect via satellite through the emergency SOS capability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether there are any differences in accuracy between the phone and watch, Apple only says \u201cthey\u2019re both very accurate.\u201d Huang adds, \u201cThere are differences. Watch is on your wrist, and the kind of impact you see on your wrist during a crash will be very different. There are those differences, but, for example, barometer is very similar with the iPhone and Watch. So there are differences based on how the devices are used, placed or worn.\u201d<\/p>\n

The feature is available for iPhone 14 and 14 Pro models, along with the Apple Watch Series 8 and Ultra.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apple\u2019s recent hardware events have been punctuated by a touch of doom and gloom. It\u2019s a tonal shift from the usual celebratory nature of these presentations \u2014 all by design, of course. The Apple Watch was the first to the party. Features like AFib readings and Fall Detection gave way to video testimonials from users […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33353,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}