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Google Maps Believes It Found a Faster Route, Gets Tourists Stuck in Mud Instead

We’ve said it before and we’re going to say it again: while navigation apps are often a Godsend, they should never be trusted blindly, especially because the smallest error could end up sending you to the middle of nowhere miles away from places where you can actually ask for help if something bad happens.
The car ended up stuck in mud after following Google Maps route 6 photos
Photo: Patrika.com
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It happened before in the case of two Russian teenagers who followed the route provided by their navigation app, only to end up on an abandoned road in brutally cold winter, with the driver eventually freezing to death after their car broke down.

And another living proof that navigation apps are a double-edged sword comes from India, where a group of tourists took a faster route suggested by Google Maps thinking they would reach their destination in a shorter time.

But instead, they ended up getting their car stuck in the mud a few kilometers away from the closest village. According to local reports, the tourists had to walk some 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) in order to find someone to help them, with a tractor struggling for several hours to take their car out of the mud.

And it’s all because Google Maps believed it found a better route than the one on the highway close to Navania, as the tourists were guided towards a road that was still under construction. But this route was so bad that at one point it reached an area that not even the locals were using, pretty much because the mud made it impossible even for large vehicles like tractors to get through.

And yet, Google Maps somehow believed this was an appropriate road for a Hyundai i10, and given the ones using the app were tourists who didn’t know the region, it’s easy to see how they ended up in the middle of nowhere.

In case you’re wondering, the car was back on the road (as in a real road) after 5 hours, so the suggested Google Maps route clearly wasn’t the fastest.
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About the author: Bogdan Popa
Bogdan Popa profile photo

Bogdan keeps an eye on how technology is taking over the car world. His long-term goals are buying an 18-wheeler because he needs more space for his kid’s toys, and convincing Google and Apple that Android Auto and CarPlay deserve at least as much attention as their phones.
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