Your phone could soon be able to tell you’ve had a car crash

The way that smartphones have taken over the world has changed the way that people around the world are monitored, voluntarily, involuntarily, and otherwise. 

For those with a particularly gloomy outlook on the impact of smartphones on society, tech giant Apple has some positive news. The makers of the iPhone are reportedly working on a crash detection system in their phones; a potentially life-saving feature. 

The reports stem from the Wall Street Journal. The US outlet obtained documents showing that Apple could introduce the new feature to its phones as early as next year. 

Today’s smartphones feature a bevy of motion sensors to detect all sorts of things, from the user switching their phone from portrait to landscape orientation, to motion-based gaming controls. 

It’s these sensors that Apple plans to use to watch for sudden changes in gravity, acceleration, and deceleration. It will then automatically call an advisor, who once verifying that a crash has indeed occurred, will forward the call to the authorities. 

It’s claimed that, over the years, Apple products have been able to detect over 10 million suspected vehicle impacts, with 50,000 of which resulting in a call to the police. It’s claimed that Apple has used this data (in terms of the kinds of impacts from the 10 million that resulted in the 50,000 calls to police) in order to hone its new tech. 

The news is a rare piece of good news for the use of mobile phones in cars. Phones are often listed as one of the biggest distractions for drivers, and this has been compounded by the way that phones have become more integrated in modern cars.

It was reported in January that mobile phone use was listed as a factor in the case of 15 fatal crashes in New Zealand between 2016 and 2020, as well as 68 minor crashes and 88 non-injury crashes in 2020 alone.