Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

My phone knows when I get in the car???

Zzz420

Zzz420

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 21, 2018
3
0
Indiana, USA
So I’ve always kinda wondered this, my phone always gives me an ETA to work and home and on sundays when I go to my moms for dinner. I realize that is because I have a fairly regular schedule and it automatically tracks my location

The creepy part is, it gives me the “13 mins to home” notification as I get in my car. Not as I start to drive away, but as I sit in the driver seat and turn the vehicle on. How does it know when I get in my car???? Anyone else notice this?
 
From my understanding, it uses some combination of bluetooth and then location tracking (since it knows speed and distance). When you turn on your car, your bluetooth connects always.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EedyBeedyBeeps
bradbomb said:
From my understanding, it uses some combination of bluetooth and then location tracking (since it knows speed and distance). When you turn on your car, your bluetooth connects always.
Click to expand...
That makes sense, ig I had never thought about it connecting to my head unit. Thanks a bunch, that makes me feel a little less creeped out haha
 
bradbomb said:
From my understanding, it uses some combination of bluetooth and then location tracking (since it knows speed and distance). When you turn on your car, your bluetooth connects always.
Click to expand...
Fuzzy logic.
It has learned that you usually travel to a certain place at a certain time.
 
Zzz420 said:
Yeah but it give me the notification as soon as I turn my car on
Click to expand...

Right. Because that’s when it senses the Bluetooth it associates with your car. If you ride a bike and always used a Bluetooth headset while riding, it would probably do the same thing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mman454
Zzz420 said:
Yeah but it give me the notification as soon as I turn my car on
Click to expand...
It does the same for me. <sarcasm>I trick it and drive home a different way.</sarcasm>
The iPhone uses several pieces of information to know when you get in the car. It remembers where you stopped moving at 40mph, wiggled around and stopped for 5 seconds, then began walking. Again Fuzzy logic. If possible it will also connect to bluetooth, but it is not necessary.
 
960design said:
It does the same for me. <sarcasm>I trick it and drive home a different way.</sarcasm>
The iPhone uses several pieces of information to know when you get in the car. It remembers where you stopped moving at 40mph, wiggled around and stopped for 5 seconds, then began walking. Again Fuzzy logic. If possible it will also connect to bluetooth, but it is not necessary.
Click to expand...

I think the bluetooth is a big part of it because it only brings up the alert for me about to traffic to work or to home or to the gym only when I turn on the ignition in my car. I can be sitting in my car for 5 minutes, but only when it turns on does that alert pop up. Thats also how the automatic parked car pinning happens. It knows where your bluetooth disconnected.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ZEEN0j
Zzz420 said:
So I’ve always kinda wondered this, my phone always gives me an ETA to work and home and on sundays when I go to my moms for dinner. I realize that is because I have a fairly regular schedule and it automatically tracks my location

The creepy part is, it gives me the “13 mins to home” notification as I get in my car. Not as I start to drive away, but as I sit in the driver seat and turn the vehicle on. How does it know when I get in my car???? Anyone else notice this?
Click to expand...
Not only does it know that you are in the car. But Siri acts like your wife. She starts asking you where you are going, and what time you’ll be back...
 
Accelerometer data is big part of it. Google maps also does this. I took break while driving,within 2 minutes it marked location as your car parked here.
Tracking is too much.
Bluetooth connection to car is secondary data point.
[doublepost=1519270929][/doublepost]Eta estimation is based on traffic data gained from all car owners map usage.
 
I’m wondering if different BT devices, like cars, have a device type DNA, that allows the phonr to know what type of device it’s connecting to.
 
Zzz420 said:
That makes sense, ig I had never thought about it connecting to my head unit. Thanks a bunch, that makes me feel a little less creeped out haha
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure it's mostly Bluetooth, although there's probably a good bit of AI going on, too, in terms of knowing where you're headed. It works almost all of the time in my wife's car, which has a built-in Bluetooth system. But in my older car, in which I use a 3rd-party adapter, it only started recognizing my car under the 11.3 betas (or maybe it was 11.2.5? I can't remember now).
 
Are we talking about Apple Maps here or Google Maps? I have both apps on my iPhone and once in a while (not always) Apple Maps will alert me "Parked Car Location" once I start walking away from my car. My iPhone connects to my car automatically via Bluetooth when starting the vehicle, and I never get the "Xx of minutes to get home or work" notifications the OP gets...

If I want to know how long it will take to Home or Work, I can enable the Google Travel Times widget on the iPhone and it will give me the time there....but it never pushes a notification, either does Apple Maps. I do have a brand new car too, IDK...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Celerondon
Significant locations provides some of this information. If turned on it knows how often you go to certain locations and bases on this.
 
Yeah. Yeah. I understand all this Bluetooth in the car, a regular schedule stuff and even traveling 40 MPH... - HOWEVER, I have an OLD car (IE: no Bluetooth) and no regular schedule... I sit in the car; look at my phone and it says something like, “...don’t use while driving...”!?!? That is freaky...
 
ChiefB1 said:
Yeah. Yeah. I understand all this Bluetooth in the car, a regular schedule stuff and even traveling 40 MPH... - HOWEVER, I have an OLD car (IE: no Bluetooth) and no regular schedule... I sit in the car; look at my phone and it says something like, “...don’t use while driving...”!?!? That is freaky...
Click to expand...

That’s likely just the accelerometer and GPS in the phone.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back