Apple introduced a very useful new feature with the iPhone 14: collision detection. With this tool, the latest iPhones and Apple Watch series 8 can ship automatic call to emergency services when devices detect a sudden drop or traffic accident.
In a test conducted in 2022, Youtuber TechRax proved the effectiveness of the device, demonstrating its reliability at both low and high speeds. However, sometimes it happens functionality is overzealous.
More than 80,000 people gathered in Coffee, Tennessee to attend the Bonnaroo music festival, our colleagues at the American channel WKRN reported. The show features prestigious lead actors such as Foo Fighters and Kendrick Lamar.
5x more wrong calls to 911 during festival
According to Scott LeDuc, director of the Coffee County Recovery Center, the 2023 edition of the festival has seen approx. 5x more fake 911 calls More than the average (emergency number in the United States). After investigation, no one else is primarily responsible for these false positives. iPhone collision detection.
As a matter of fact, Apple vehicle obviously took the crazy dance steps of the audience for accidents or sudden drops. Conclusion, Thousands of 911 alerts were sent to local emergency services. To end the proliferation of false positives, a notification has been sent to iPhone 14 owners who were at the event asking them to temporarily disable the feature on their device.
Emergency services want to disable collision detection
During this process, Apple was contacted and offered assistance, but in the end, the recovery center was able to manage the situation without the support of the Apple brand. Emergency services state that they are taking precautions, specifically by determining the location of each caller to verify if these are false positives.
“As first responders always do on the job, our staff really stepped up and they did. There has never been a situation where we could not help anyone because of the number of calls”, Scott assures LeDuc.
Note that this isn’t the first time the iPhone 14’s collision detection has been responsible for false positives. While the feature was accidentally triggered on roller coasters, American ski resorts were flooded with false calls because of Apple’s tool.
Source : WKRN
