iPhones are calling the police when their owners ride rollercoasters
Apple’s iPhones are automatically calling the police to notify them that their owners have been in car crashes during roller coaster rides.
The Cupertino tech giant’s newest iPhone had sent the notifications sent from owners phones while they were at the Kings Island amusement park, in Warren County, Ohio, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The smartphones’ car-crash detection systems were likely triggered by the ride’s rapid deceleration or a sudden stop.
The iPhone 14 uses sensor data to activate the mode and gives users a 20-second window to stop the alarms from being sent to emergency services.
“The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash and is not responding to their phone,” the iPhones alerted 911 dispatchers,
Authorities were dispatched to the scene but did not locate a crash, according to the report obtained by the WSJ. At least one of the riders called the emergency service back to let them know she was ok.
The Journal obtained at least six 911 calls from people at Kings Island rides since the new iPhone model was released in September.
Another iPhone user told the Journal that his mother and girlfriend had received notifications that he had been in a car accident after he accidentally dropped his phone off the handlebars while riding his motorcycle in New York City.
“I was freaking out. I was thinking the worst,” the girlfriend of the motorist told the WSJ. “My best friend passed away in a car accident. It brought me right back there.”
An Apple spokesperson told the Journal that the setting was “extremely accurate in detecting severe crashes” for the most part. Park officials have advised riders not to bring their phones with them for safety reasons.
The crash detection feature has already been vital in detecting life-threatening situations. Police were called to a fatal car crash in Nebraska after the owner’s iPhone 14 detected the impact and called 911, with emergency responders saying it was the “worst crash” they’d seen in the area in recent memory.
Google’s Pixel phones also have a similar feature, with one man saying that it saved his life after his Bobcat loader rolled into a ravine.
Posting on Reddit, the man added that the accident occurred deep on his property and as such it would have been unlikely anyone would have discovered him.
