India: Driver followed ‘fastest route’ suggested by Google Maps, ended up on stairs in hilly area
Gudalur is a population tourist destination
According to a famous quote by Beverly Sills, the Brooklyn-born soprano, there are no shortcuts to any place worth going. That may beespecially true when that ‘short-cut’ is suggested by Google Maps. An SUV driver in India, blinded by his unshakable trust in Google Maps, ended up on a steep series of stairs when scouting for a shortcut while navigating through streets in Gudalur, a hill town in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Gudalur is a popular tourist destination, situated at a tri-junction among three Indian states: Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.
The man, along with his friends, had spent the weekend in Gudalur and was heading back to Karnataka when he chose to follow the shortcut route suggested by Google Maps.
This path, however, took them to a steep flight of stairs in a residential area through police quarters.
As he was unable to proceed on the stairs, the man had to seek help from locals and police to steer back to the main road.
Previous such incidents
It is not the first time that Google Maps put travellers on a rough spot quite literallywhen they sought assistance in navigation.
Last November, a group of people heading home to Los Angeles from Las Vegas ended up in the middle of the Nevada Desert while they took a ‘shorter’ route suggested by Google Maps.
The route, which would have saved them 50 minutes as per the app, gave them the horror of their life as they got stuck and had to call a tow truck to pick up their car.
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"It was our first time driving to/from Vegas, so we didn’t know that you can really only take the I-15 back and forth," the driver was quoted as saying in local media.
While reacting to the incident, Google said they were investigating the matter.
(With inputs from agencies)