Pixels with Android Q will be able to tell if we are involved in a traffic accident

A few days after the end of the Google I/O 2019 developers conference, where Google talked a lot about Android Q, a new feature emerges that should accompany the new version of the green robot, of which, however, nobody has yet spoken about it.

It is the possibility that the smartphone automatically understands if we are involved in a car accident; this feature, exclusive to Google Pixel devices, has been found among the lines of code of Android Q, which we report below.

Here is the line that suggests how it will be an exclusive of Pixel smartphones:

<uses-feature android:name=”com.google.android.feature.PIXEL_EXPERIENCE” android:required=”true”/>

While these are the lines dedicated to the function:

<string name=”car_crash_alert_icon_description”>Car crash icon</string>
<string name=”car_crash_detection_dogfood_title_text”>Car Crash Detection Dogfood</string>
<string name=”car_crash_dogfood_app_name”>Car Crash Dogfood</string>
<string name=”car_crash_permission_preference_title”>@string/car_crash_permissions_menu_item_text</string>
<string name=”car_crash_permissions_menu_item_text”>Car Crash Dogfood Permissions</string>
<string name=”dogfood_welcome_text”>\u0009Welcome to the car crash detection dogfood. In order to properly use this feature, please enable the following permissions. Once you enable them, this dogfood will automatically launch an alert activity when the device detects you are in a car crash.</string>

Along with the code, there are also two icons, which let us understand the function of this novelty. It is not clear how the incident detection function (use of the accelerometer and the microphone, perhaps) will be carried out, nor what actions the same application is able to perform once the incident has been detected (this is called alert activity, which could mean contacting some selected profiles, or advising the authorities, perhaps with the location of the accident attached).

We just have to wait for new official information from Google to learn more details about this new – and very useful – functionality.