An 18-year-old man survived a near-tragic accident after using Apple’s voice-activated Siri assistant to alert the emergency services.
Sam Ray found himself trapped under 5,000lbs of metal when a truck he was repairing fell on him on 2 July in Tennessee.
Quick-thinking Sam felt the Siri assistant activate on his iPhone as he struggled to free himself and quickly yelled “Call 911!”
Emergency dispatchers heard his screams for help, while the smartphone helped to reveal his location to first responders.
“The map got to his street, it got pretty close,” dispatcher Christina Lee said (via ABC News). “But he was yelling his address, and that was the best thing he could have done.”
Once fire crews arrived on the scene they were able to jack the truck back up, freeing Sam from his 40-minute ordeal.
SEE ALSO: iOS 9 Features: Siri gets pro-active
The teen, who suffered broken ribs, a bruised kidney as well as some cuts, bruises and burns believes he’s lucky to be alive.
“I could feel myself slipping,” he said. “I was starting to accept that I wouldn’t get out.
So there you have it. Apple is always adding to Siri’s abilities as it seeks to improve the intelligent personal assistant, but can now claim the app is a legitimate life-saver.
Suck on that, Google Now and Cortana…
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
