How does Do Not Disturb while driving detect that you are driving?

Dear Sir / Madam,


We are Klaartje and Maya and are in the fifth grade of the Gymnasium in The Netherlands. For our end of the year school project we are trying to make an app that detects that you are driving (by not only speed) and we were wondering how exactly the 'Do Not Disturb While Driving' in IOS works. We found information about it on: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208090, but we would like to have more technical information about how your mobile phone detects whether you are driving or not. For example: does it only use your speed or also the acceleration? And how does it detects whether you are cycling or with the car?


Thank you in advance!


Yours faithfully,


Klaartje Roovers and Maya Maklev

Replies

Motion detection* in this example is typically an aggregate based on inputs via gyro/accelerometer/magnetometer. Perhaps the assumption is that a bicycle exhibits dissimilar enough inputs from a vehicle, but I don't see any promise by Apple that it could promise to make such a clear determination at all.


While devs have access to the docs and APIs, exactly how it works is secret sauce known only to Apple.


With the focus on distracted driving, drivers in their cars are more likely to use this tech, however, I think it would be an interesting part of your project if you enabled auto and tested it yourself. Don't forget to wear a helmet 😉


*:

  • An accelerometer senses both the gravitational pull of the earth and the inertia / momentum of the motion of the device
  • A magnetometer senses the earth's magnetic field to get a compass heading.
  • A gyroscope senses changes in twist and angle.