GPS navigation applications have clearly changed the lives of drivers, notably thanks to Google's solution: Maps. However, all is not rosy for the Mountain View firm. Three individuals have just died because of this service, having been taken straight into the void due to a terrible route error.
A fatal fall caused by Maps
The newspaper The Economic Times just reported a tragic event involving a car and a bridge. We learned on November 25, 2024 that three people died while crossing an unfinished bridge over the Ramganga River in India.
The problem was that Google Maps suggested a route using it, even though a flood a few months earlier had partly destroyed it and a construction company was just beginning reconstruction.
While a gaping hole in the road can easily be seen in the middle of the day, the three travelers in the vehicle unfortunately did not see it while traveling in the middle of the night to reach the town of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh.
The Google application in question
Regarding the fault of Google Maps, it was deduced by the local authorities by examining the driver's phone. A situation which obviously saddened and enraged the families of the victims, criticizing the absence of security measures put in place by Google, and engaging the responsibility of the American company.
“They were checking the route with Google Maps and fell off the unfinished bridge […] The road should have been blocked, but it wasn't. The maps should not have shown that the bridge was finished,” said Pramod Kumar, the brother-in-law of one of the victims.
We are thus faced with an error by Google and the reconstruction company, which did not correctly report the situation of the bridge.
Speaking to Futurism, a spokesperson for the American company expressed its condolences to the families, and added: “We are working closely with the authorities and providing our support to them in investigating this matter.”
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