iPhone 14 has issue where it calls 911 on rollercoasters

[Shreyas1]

Summary

 The new crash detection feature on iPhone 14 had an issue where it called 911 for a rollercoaster ride. This has apparently happened 6 times so far from the same park.

 

Quotes

Quote

 

On a sunny September Sunday, Sara White and her family headed to Kings Island amusement park outside Cincinnati. 

 

The 39-year-old dentist zipped her two-day-old iPhone 14 Pro securely in her fanny pack, buckled into the Mystic Timbers roller coaster and enjoyed getting hoisted 109 feet in the air and whipped around at over 50 mph.

Afterward, she looked down at her phone. The lock screen was lined with missed calls and voice mails from an emergency dispatcher asking if she was OK.

 

During the ride, Apple’s AAPL -3.67%▼ new car-crash detection triggered and automatically dialed 911. The call to the Warren County Communications Center, which you can listen to here,  featured an automated voice message from Ms. White’s iPhone:

 

“The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash and is not responding to their phone.”

 

 

 

My thoughts

Obviously the feature had good intentions, and when working right I'm sure it will save plenty of lives. But there needs to be some sort of oversight whenever a new feature like this gets announced that automatically dials emergency services. Especially considering how common iPhones are, if this issue was even just a bit more widespread it could have created huge issues throughout the country.

 

Google pixel also has a crash detection feature, but it seems to be turned off by default, which is probably why we haven't seen many pixel phones do this. 

 

 

Sources

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-owner-of-this-iphone-was-in-a-severe-car-crashor-just-on-a-roller-coaster-11665314944
 

https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/9/23395222/iphone-14-calling-911-rollercoasters-apple-crash-detection

 

edit: dispatch audio, if anyone is interested:

 

https://www.wsj.com/video/911-call-roller-coaster-triggers-iphone-14-crash-detection/EE869694-F0E3-4049-B51A-9634326A26F3.html?mod=article_inline

[Haaselh0ff]

Apple just doin a little trolling, it's fine.

[Quackers101]

yeah, the crash thing. did wonder how bug free or good it was.

Or that it would only be ON during android or apple car apps.

[Kisai]

1 hour ago, Shreyas1 said:

Summary

 The new crash detection feature on iPhone 14 had an issue where it called 911 for a rollercoaster ride. This has apparently happened 6 times so far from the same park.

 

Quotes

 

My thoughts

Obviously the feature had good intentions, and when working right I'm sure it will save plenty of lives. But there needs to be some sort of oversight whenever a new feature like this gets announced that automatically dials emergency services. Especially considering how common iPhones are, if this issue was even just a bit more widespread it could have created huge issues throughout the country.

 

Google pixel also has a crash detection feature, but it seems to be turned off by default, which is probably why we haven't seen many pixel phones do this. 

 

 

Sources

 https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-owner-of-this-iphone-was-in-a-severe-car-crashor-just-on-a-roller-coaster-11665314944
 

https://www.theverge.com/2022/10/9/23395222/iphone-14-calling-911-rollercoasters-apple-crash-detection

Well there is an easy solution to this. Have the GPS systems geofence amusement parks such as disneyland, 6 flags, etc, where the automatic 911 feature will be disabled if the last 10 minutes hasn't detected acceleration at the same altitude >15mph (eg something other than walking.) Because most roller coasters have a steep incline at a slow rate before it sends the riders downward, and would in fact be like simulating a car going off road, spinning, and such. For temporary carnivals, simply leverage the fact that people wait in line before getting on the ride. 

 

As for potentially clogging up 911 services, the 911 call centers should have a filter system in place that detects calls inside from known amusement parks from the GPS, and when carnivals are in town, and directs the agent to call the operator's security/first aid office to get a confirmation of an incident before dispatching police and fire services.

[Quackers101]

or all these critical services have better or richer information.

Like labelled calls, like if its automated system call (I had an accident with that, due to settings).

Car crash automated call or given position etc. then to better tracking, like for old people having alarm system with their phone and if missing or phone detects irregular movements, ping location to these services for storing. Also better mapping and tracking of events on regional systems for critical services. To many countries should have an own emergancy app, like if an shooting or fire, to be able to map and alert people around the danger zone. I guess that can be exploited too or have its own bugs.

[Shreyas1]

47 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Well there is an easy solution to this. Have the GPS systems geofence amusement parks such as disneyland, 6 flags, etc, where the automatic 911 feature will be disabled if the last 10 minutes hasn't detected acceleration at the same altitude >15mph (eg something other than walking.) Because most roller coasters have a steep incline at a slow rate before it sends the riders downward, and would in fact be like simulating a car going off road, spinning, and such. For temporary carnivals, simply leverage the fact that people wait in line before getting on the ride. 

 

As for potentially clogging up 911 services, the 911 call centers should have a filter system in place that detects calls inside from known amusement parks from the GPS, and when carnivals are in town, and directs the agent to call the operator's security/first aid office to get a confirmation of an incident before dispatching police and fire services.

Well yes, that is easy to spot and fix in hindsight, I wonder what other applications may accidentally set this off, if they didn't consider this false positive, what else could they have missed? I'm just worried about automatic systems that can call 911 without any oversight, as there's bound to be more issues like this in the future. 

[Quackers101]

1 hour ago, Shreyas1 said:

I'm just worried about automatic systems that can call 911 without any oversight, as there's bound to be more issues like this in the future. 

the worst is the part about the "crying wolf" scenario. Where before, calling randomly will be maybe more of a cause to be looked into. While now its more of, "it's just likely an accidental phone call so lets hang it up". (not sure about the amount of troll or misused calls) But I do wonder how much AI can help with some of the weird calls.

[Kisai]

42 minutes ago, Quackers101 said:

the worst is the part about the "crying wolf" scenario. Where before, calling randomly will be maybe more of a cause to be looked into. While now its more of, "it's just likely an accidental phone call so lets hang it up". (not sure about the amount of troll or misused calls) But I do wonder how much AI can help with some of the weird calls.

Well, when more people have phones that can do it, the AI should be able to detect large clusters of "calls" triggered within 10 seconds of each other. If it's inside the geofenced area of an amusement part, it's easy to go "oh that was just the roller coaster, we can reject those 911's because 20 people on the ride all hit it at once, every 10 minutes" versus, oh 20 people were in a bus/train accident 10 miles outside the city and that's the only incident in the last hour in that area.

 

Like to me, it seems like this is a very easy problem to fix on the phone side, at least for known amusement parks. It's the traveling carnivals that would be difficult to really anticipate, though even then, it's possible for the carnivals themselves to simply have a security/medical office that has a direct line to the 911 operations center, and the 911 operations center can proactively filter calls that originate within the area they say they are at, to someone who has a line through to the carnival operator's medical/security office.

 

At any rate, This feels like a problem that for the majority of cases can be solved with a GPS geofence, and at worse, training 911 operators to know when a carnival is in town, and what to expect. 

 

Another solution, is to have mode on the phone explicitly for "going on rides, seeing a film/show at the theatre" where it will disable the accelerometer sensors, and heartrate monitor sensors (Eg apple watch) from invoking 911 until the bluetooth beacon in their car/computer says they're in their car or home. Manual efforts tend to rarely be used, which is why the GPS geofence is probably the most appropriate solution, and likely also the least expensive without lawmakers getting involved.

 

[PocketNerd]

The edge case strikes again!

 

[Quackers101]

57 minutes ago, PocketNerd said:

The edge case strikes again!

That's why big tech wants to... hit the edge.

To reach the edge, to have the edge and to be the edge.

[Lightwreather]

27 minutes ago, Quackers101 said:

To reach the edge, to have the edge and to be the edge.

[PocketNerd]

47 minutes ago, Quackers101 said:

That's why big tech wants to... hit the edge.

To reach the edge, to have the edge and to be the edge.

But are they about to break?

[Sauron]

I like how Apple felt the need to insert brand recognition into their severe accident automated message...

 

And I mean, what were people expecting here? The more sensors you insert to detect unusual and potentially dangerous circumstances, the more misfires you're going to have as some people inevitably do weird things safely. I fully expect this to trigger a lot more often as people simply drop their phones down the stairs and are unable to get to them before the automatic call starts. The next step could be detecting when you scream and calling 911 because you could be being assaulted... and it's not like it wouldn't help sometimes, but it would definitely misfire quite a bit. I wonder, where is the line? Can a company just have its phones automatically spam call 911 based on whatever arbitrary conditions it sees fit?

 

It's not a problem you can easily solve either. How do you catch all shocks that are a car accident while filtering out all shocks that are not by just using an accelerometer? You'd have to collect way more information through a variety of sensors to be sure, and do we really want our phones to passively determine what situation you're in at all times? Maybe have cars call 911 if they crash...

2 hours ago, PocketNerd said:

The edge case strikes again!

Is it really an edge case for people to board a roller coaster occasionally? I'd imagine most people do that at least a few times in their lives.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Add that to the list of reasons why phones and other handheld electronic devices are usually not allowed on rollercoasters. 

[Shreyas1]

14 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Add that to the list of reasons why phones and other handheld electronic devices are usually not allowed on rollercoasters. 

They aren't allowed? I mean I never take mine on anyways because I'm afraid of losing it but I assumed that as long as it's secure (like a zipper pocket) they would be fine with it

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

10 minutes ago, Shreyas1 said:

They aren't allowed? I mean I never take mine on anyways because I'm afraid of losing it but I assumed that as long as it's secure (like a zipper pocket) they would be fine with it

The places I go to usually ask people to leave all of their belongings in the storage cubbies. Bags is a given, but people have been pulling out their phones to take selfies while on the ride and well... let's say there have been cases where phones have fell from the sky striking those on the ground. 

[Sauron]

22 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

The places I go to usually ask people to leave all of their belongings in the storage cubbies. Bags is a given, but people have been pulling out their phones to take selfies while on the ride and well... let's say there have been cases where phones have fell from the sky striking those on the ground. 

The only thing close to this I've experienced is being asked to take off my shoes for a ride because you're hanging from the seat and they tend to fall off... otherwise most roller coasters don't pass directly overhead where people walk

[Ydfhlx]

1 hour ago, Sauron said:

Maybe have cars call 911 if they crash...

EU actually already requires that on new cars

[PocketNerd]

2 hours ago, Sauron said:

Is it really an edge case for people to board a roller coaster occasionally? I'd imagine most people do that at least a few times in their lives.

Considering they clearly didn't think about or test for it? Yes.

[Arika]

"You're using it wrong"

[Kisai]

4 hours ago, Sauron said:

 

It's not a problem you can easily solve either. How do you catch all shocks that are a car accident while filtering out all shocks that are not by just using an accelerometer? You'd have to collect way more information through a variety of sensors to be sure, and do we really want our phones to passively determine what situation you're in at all times? Maybe have cars call 911 if they crash...

Cars do that, but you have to turn it on, and only cars that have a factory radio with a bluetooth "carkit" mode's do this. If you have an aftermarket radio, of course it won't.

 

4 hours ago, Sauron said:

Is it really an edge case for people to board a roller coaster occasionally? I'd imagine most people do that at least a few times in their lives.

The problem is which is it a problem for. Is it a problem for the owner of the phone, or the emergency services more? Because I'd say the problem is the wasted EMT resources than the phone owner.

 

If Apple geofences off known themeparks so that the accelerometers and heartrate monitors are left on "ignore/manual" while inside the geofence, that solves it, and these places have their own first-aid/security people on site, so the chances of someone needing an automatic 911 is near-zero. There's no chance of someone being launched from a ride that nobody will see that needs an automatic 911.

 

Worst case scenario is that people call 911 manually.

 

Meanwhile, a car driving 50mph on a rural road, hits a pole and the airbags inflate, and triggers the paired phone to call 911. If there are passengers in the car who have this feature, their phone will also call 911 if enabled due to the accelerometer detecting a crash.

 

The problem with roller coasters is that they are intentionally designed to jostle the riders. This means that the safety features of the phone have to be ignored. Honestly, for certain rides, it would make more sense to just stick a sign up that says "turn off phones/do not take phones on this ride for your own safety"

 

This brings up an important point.

 

Security alarms. Because of how frequent security alarms are false, the city here charges you if police are dispatched and it's a false alarm. This is what I would expect of theme park/amusement park/carnival operators.

[Shreyas1]

18 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Because of how frequent security alarms are false, the city here charges you if police are dispatched and it's a false alarm. This is what I would expect of theme park/amusement park/carnival operators.

On the other hand I feel like this is just penalizing amusement park operators for something out of their control. Sure, they can put signs up telling people to turn off their phones or leave them in the cubbies, but it's not like they can search and take away the phones before every ride either.
 

The charge should go to apple, as they are the ones creating this automatic system. But if a law tried to pass doing that we know that either any large company would just try and fight it in court (wasting everyone's time), or it would be so small that it wouldn't affect them at all and they would rather just pay the small fee than do anything about it

[Kisai]

2 hours ago, Shreyas1 said:

On the other hand I feel like this is just penalizing amusement park operators for something out of their control. Sure, they can put signs up telling people to turn off their phones or leave them in the cubbies, but it's not like they can search and take away the phones before every ride either.
 

The charge should go to apple, as they are the ones creating this automatic system. But if a law tried to pass doing that we know that either any large company would just try and fight it in court (wasting everyone's time), or it would be so small that it wouldn't affect them at all and they would rather just pay the small fee than do anything about it

It can cost you $5000 in some parts of Canada if you call 911 without a good reason. This is why they say if you accidently call 911, wait for them to answer and say no you called it by mistake. You're not allowed to have 911 on speed dial either.

 

https://cops.usdoj.gov/ric/Publications/cops-p024-pub.pdf

Quote

 

Also one of the proposed things was to ban automatic 911 dialing entirely.

Please note the document is from 2007 and is very non-technical. Cars automatically calling 911 on a collision was not yet a thing and neither were smartphones.

 

Like I can imagine a lot of edge cases that the 911 system will just have to put up with, because it's impossible to consider every possibility. However in the case of amusement parks. We know where they are, we know what rides they have, and we know which rides will potentially trigger the phone's 911.  It's not like you can pull out the phone and tell it not to call when you're upside down and being rattled for a minute when it will call in 20 seconds.

 

 Consider other edge cases that are similar.

- Earthquakes

- Construction

- Filming Practical effects (eg how cars are lifted in the air for explosions)

 

There are many potential ways for the accelerometers to detect unusual movement, but how does it determine that movement is something that needs a 911 call? For the earthquake, it automatically calling 911 might save your life. For construction and filming practical effects, the unintended vibrations or shockwaves might trigger the phone if the phone is too close to the event, and since you would be wearing ear protection, you wouldn't even hear the phone activating. But the amount of nusiance calls from these are likely pretty close to zero. 

 

A theme park every 5 minutes would be a nuisance. If it cost the theme park $5000 every time, they would stop operating rollercoasters. So clearly large parks would be better off using their on-site security and medical staff before calling 911. 

 

It can be addressed from the phone side or from the 911 side, but, it's likely the easiest for the phone manufacturers to play nice and just geofence the parks, where the automatic call is not enabled or has to intentionally be overridden (Eg staff.) Have the phone tell you when you're in line that all automatic emergency services are paused while inside the park.

 

I bring up the heart rate monitor on the apple watch as another potential source of automatic emergency calls/contacts.

https://www.rscme.com/

 

So someone on a rollercoaster might alert their family that something has happened to them unintentionally.

[wanderingfool2]

Well the easiest way that I could see this is that it only triggers when you are in presence of your vehicle, like connected to bluetooth.  Or potentially monitoring the accelerators and realizing that movement is still occurring (and thus unlikely to be a car accident).

 

The better solution is to have vehicles equipped to do so (I think in EU it have something similar)....so many already come equipped to effectively handle that anyways.

 

They also are being triggered by small airplane landings

 

Oh what a week for news stories though.  iPhones calling 911 too often, Androids not being able to call 911.  Honestly, I'd rather accidental dialings over not being able to call any-day of the week.

[hishnash]

1 hour ago, wanderingfool2 said:

Well the easiest way that I could see this is that it only triggers when you are in presence of your vehicle, like connected to bluetooth.  Or potentially monitoring the accelerators and realizing that movement is still occurring (and thus unlikely to be a car accid

That would implicit mean only the driver of a new car would get this support, if your a passenger then it would not work... also when a car has this type of accident one of the key things they are looking for is stuff like the car rolling down the hill... And at some point the roller cost does stop so you can get off that might well look a lot like a car rolling down a hill then sliding for a bit before coming to a stop.

 

 

1 hour ago, wanderingfool2 said:

They also are being triggered by small airplane landings

 

This sounds like it would be easer to filter out as these g-forces (unless your having a very bad day flying) are not that high when landing.