Like the iPhone 14, the Apple Watch Series 8 also includes Apple’s crash detection feature. A new report out of Germany today highlights a story where this feature activated to help save the lives of three people who were in a car accident where their car went down a 20-meter-deep embankment. .
Apple Watch crash detection plays a key role in the rescue
As reported by the regional newspaper of Germany Bavarian central newspaper, the crash happened early Monday morning and is already in the news due in part to the Apple Watch being involved. According to initial investigations, the car was traveling on the Bundesautobahn 20 when it “left the right lane, went through a green strip and was catapulted over the crash barrier.”
The three passengers were “partially trapped in the wreckage of the vehicle in the crash,” according to a report from Heise online. There were no witnesses to the accident, nor could it be seen from the roadway above. This is where the Apple Watch’s crash detection feature kicked in to call emergency services on behalf of the three passengers.
The Apple Watch Series 8 automatically shared the exact location of the crash with first responders. This allowed police and fire rescuers, along with a full rescue service, to attend the scene of the accident. According to initial reports, the driver suffered minor injuries, while the two passengers “suffered serious injuries.” All three were taken to nearby hospitals.
Apple Watch crash detection works by activating the emergency SOS feature when a car crash is detected. If the user does not respond to the notification, the iPhone or Apple Watch will automatically dial emergency services. It will then also share the user’s exact location with dispatchers, as it did in this story.
The wristwatch informed the responders of the exact location so that the police and fire rescuers and the rescue service could arrive at the scene of the accident. At the scene of the accident in the area of the B20/A3 near Steinach, rescuers discovered a vehicle about 20 meters from the road in the bushes. This was not visible from the road.
iOS 16.3.1 was released yesterday and includes “optimizations” to the error detection algorithm. These optimizations address complaints from first responders about false positive crash detection alerts. Stories like today’s out of Germany are a good example of Apple needing to find the perfect balance between correctly detected errors and false positives.
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