He remembers the feeling of fear when he realised the crash was imminent, followed by the smell of his car’s airbags deploying.

But then he felt something he hadn’t expected. His Google Pixel was vibrating repeatedly, as if he was getting a phone call. When Chris looked at the screen, it read “Car Crash Detected,” and gave him the option to call 911 with a single swipe. He did, and emergency services quickly arrived on the scene.¹

After it was clear that everyone had emerged unscathed, Chris realised how lucky he was to have a phone with crash detection there to help him. His phone was always with him, but he never thought it could help him in an accident. Now, he says, “I didn’t ever really think, ‘How is my phone going to save me today?’” 

Whether you’re driving home from lunch on a familiar road or exploring a new route, Car Crash Detection on Google Pixel will be there for you if things go wrong. 

When you enable this safety feature, Pixel automatically detects if you have been in a severe accident and gives you the option to call 999. If you’re unable to respond, Pixel jumps into action and contacts emergency services with your location.¹

It’s easy. Just open the Safety app and set up “Car Crash Detection” in the Features section. Make sure to allow your Pixel to share your location and enable microphone access.

“It’s an ambient detection feature, so once you’ve turned it on, it’ll activate whenever you’re in a car – whether you’re driving, in the passenger seat, or in a taxi,” says Edward Shi, Google’s product manager for Car Crash Detection. 

Just what helps Pixel come to the rescue? Artificial intelligence built into Activity Recognition on Pixel. For accurate vehicle crash detection, the Pixel team trained the AI on real and simulated car crashes, according to Enxun Wei, Google’s lead engineer for Car Crash Detection.

“We trained the algorithm for a variety of situations,” says Wei. “So even if you’re stopped at a red light and a car moving at around 25 mph or higher hits you, Car Crash Detection will still trigger.”

Pixel knows you’ve been in an accident because the AI compares data from your phone’s accelerometer, GPS, and microphone with data from the test crashes. That lets it distinguish between a car crash and sudden movements like bumps or swerves.

One of the most important pieces of information inferred by the AI, according to Wei, is the speed of the car at the moment of the crash. Since Car Crash Detection is meant to help out when drivers can’t respond, Wei and his team focused on identifying severe crashes rather than minor scrapes. Using extensive data, engineers determined that serious accidents more commonly occurred in vehicles with a relative speed of 25 miles per hour or higher at the moment of collision, and identified which speeds are linked to more severe injuries, according to Wei.

When the Car Crash Detection sensor is triggered, it sets off a 60-second timer. If Pixel doesn’t get a response, it can automatically call emergency services and share your location with them using an automated message.

Thanks to Google’s Emergency Sharing feature, Pixel can also notify your emergency contacts that you’ve been in an accident, so they can stay in the loop.² Your phone will even share your real-time location with your contacts. The service uses Google’s AI-driven network of GPS, Wi-Fi, and mobile data sources to pinpoint your location.

So when you use Car Crash Detection, you can trust that assistance will be there soon.