How Google’s Earthquake Alerts Protected Millions — And How to Turn It On in Quake-Prone Countries When two massive earthquakes (7.2 and 7.5) struck Venezuela recently, the country had no national early warning system. But millions of Android phones lit up with loud alerts seconds to minutes before the shaking hit — giving people precious time to drop, cover, and hold on. Google’s clever system turns the accelerometers in over 2 billion Android phones into a giant crowdsourced seismic network. It detects the first waves, confirms the quake, and blasts notifications to users in the affected area. In Venezuela, it reached 11.4 million people — proving technology can save lives even where governments can’t. How to activate it (works in nearly 100 countries): Open Settings on your Android phone. Tap Safety & Emergency (or search for “Earthquake alerts”). Select Earthquake Alerts and toggle it ON. Keep Location services ena...
HOW IT WORKS Navigating city streets They have taught their cars to navigate through many complicated scenarios on city streets. The cars use their sensors and software to sense objects like pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles and more, and are designed to safely drive around them. Watch the video How it drives Like any driver, a self-driving car needs to constantly answer these questions. Where am I? The car processes both map and sensor information to determine where it is in the world. The car knows what street it's on and which lane it's in. What’s around me? Sensors help detect objects all around us. The software classifies objects based on their size, shape and movement pattern. It detects a cyclist and a pedestrian in this case. What will happen next? The software predicts what all the objects around us might do next. It predicts that the cyclist will ride by and the pedestrian will cross the street. What should I do? ...
