Google Expands Pixel’s Car Crash Detection to India: Here’s How to Enable the Feature

Google Pixel phones have included Car Crash Detection since 2019, but the safety feature had been available in select regions only. Now, the search engine giant is expanding the feature to more countries, including India. Google has added India and four more nations to its list of supported regions for the Car crash detection feature on Pixel phones. The feature first launched on Pixel phones in the US in 2019, two years before Apple introduced its own crash detection feature on its devices.

First noticed by Android Central, Google’s support page for Pixel phones now lists five new countries where car crash detection feature is supported. These include India, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, and Switzerland. The feature, however, is not yet available in Indian languages. Do note that crash detection is only supported on Pixel 4a and later devices. The phone must also have a SIM for the feature to work.

To set up Car crash detection on your Pixel handset, head to the phone’s Personal Safety app. In the app, tap Features and scroll to “Car crash detection.” Then tap set up to activate the feature on your phone. You’d also need to give permissions for location, physical activity, and microphone sharing for the feature to work.

The Car crash detection, as the name suggests, will detect when Pixel users are in a severe car accident, alert emergency services automatically and share their location. Pixel 4a and later phones from Google, including its first foldable handset launched earlier this year, the Pixel Fold, utilise information like the phone’s location, motion sensors, and nearby sounds to detect a car crash. In the event of a car crash, you Pixel phone should vibrate, sound and alarm at maximum value and ask if you need any help. Upon confirmation or in the case of no response, the phone will attempt to contact 112 — the pan-India emergency services number — with your location and car crash data.

Bear in mind, however, that a Pixel phone might not be able to detect all kinds of car accidents and a high-impact activity — for example a roller coaster ride — could also trigger the crash detection feature. It’s also worth noting that Pixel phones must be connected to a stable mobile network for successfully alerting emergency services.

Last month, Google launched its latest Pixel phones, the Pixel 8 and the Pixel 8 Pro, at its Made by Google event. The new Pixel handsets run on the company’s newest Tensor G3 chip and bring a host of new AI-backed features and camera improvements. Pixel 8 is priced in India at Rs. 75,999 and will be available in a single 128GB storage model. The Pixel 8 Pro, on the other hand, comes in at Rs. 1,06,999 for the same storage size.