In just 2 days, Apple’s accident detection feature sends out dozens of false warnings

Along with the introduction of the iPhone 14 series, during the September event, Apple also introduced new Apple Watch lines including, Apple Watch series 8, Apple Watch Ultra and Apple Watch SE 2022. These devices are capable of Crash Detection when you are in a car that is involved in a collision. This feature is implemented using a combination of accelerometer, gyroscope, GPS sensors as well as microphone on the device to detect if the user has been in an accident.

At that point, unless you touch the device to turn it off, every 10 seconds the iPhone syncs with the new Apple Watch will contact emergency numbers in your contacts and let them know your location. . In its advertisement, Apple claims Crash Detection is made up of ” advanced motion algorithms designed by Apple and trained for more than 1 million hours in crash and driving records. cars in the real world .”

Although a useful feature for users, this is also a big nuisance for rescue agencies. According to a report from the Colorado Sun, last Monday, Summit County’s 911 rescue center received 71 accident reports automatically sent from the iPhone or the latest Apple Watch versions of skiers. in the area on weekends.

It is worth mentioning that out of these 71 accident reports, none of them are actually dangerous emergency situations. Every time a skier stops after a downhill or falls into the snow, Crash Detection is activated even though there is no real emergency. Even if Crash Detection isn’t activated when a user falls in the snow, the Apple Watch’s fall detection will broadcast these notifications — albeit often in unnecessary situations.

In addition, 911 personnel are also trained not to ignore these emergency messages. As a result, every time a notice is issued, the local 911 operator will have to contact the ski patrol to get to the crash site to ensure no one is seriously injured. It is of course a time consuming process.

Even so, the local 911 operator still wants skiers to enable the safety feature, confirming that it is an important and non-disturbing feature.

” Someone can ski and crash into a tree and pass out and other skiers don’t even see them ,” said Suzie Butterfield, supervisor of the Summit County Coordination Center. We want you to be safe. We don’t mind taking that call because if something really happened, we’d love to be able to reach you .”

However, not all rescue teams are happy with this. On December 14, search and rescue groups in British Columbia, Canada complained about a series of false alarms sent out by the Crash Detection feature on the new Apple Watch and asked Apple to make changes.

Rescue groups in this area are constantly receiving accident reports and they have to send helicopters to the place of the announcement but often no one is found or there is no dangerous situation. More importantly, because they are volunteer rescue groups, they have a limited budget while each crash notification from Crash Detection can cost them up to $ 10,000 just to realize there are no incidents in the development area. go warn.

Refer to PhoneArena, AppleInsider