Three dead in India after Google Maps directions led to tragedy

Three people died in a car accident in India on Sunday while reportedly following directions from Google’s navigation app, local media has reported, citing police sources. Their car rolled off a bridge which was undergoing major repairs and was later found by locals.

Brothers Nitin and Ajit, both 30, and Amit, 40, were traveling from Noida, a city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, about 20 kilometers southeast of New Delhi, to Faridpur to attend a wedding. Google Maps reportedly directed the driver onto the unfinished bridge, which had a section that had collapsed due to earlier flood damage. The bridge lacked barriers or warning signs.

Four engineers have been placed in police custody in connection with the accident, PTI news agency reported on Monday. The regional officer of Google Maps has also come under investigation, the report added.

Following the incident, municipal departments have been ordered to inspect all roads and bridges in the area to prevent similar occurrences.

Local authorities claimed that a portion of the bridge had been destroyed in a flood earlier this year. However, these changes have not been updated in the navigation system, according to Faridpur police officer Ashutosh Shivam, as reported by Hindustan Times.

Meanwhile, a Google spokesperson extended condolences and confirmed the company’s cooperation with the investigation. “Our deepest sympathies go out to the families. We’re working closely with the authorities and providing our support to investigate the issue,” the spokesperson said.

Google Maps has around 60 million active users in India, according to media reports, and has mapped over 7 million kilometers of roads in the country, the company stated in a blog post earlier this year. The company added that it is using a custom-built AI approach for “tackling narrow roads and flyovers, to powering sustainable journeys with EV charging stations, as well as enabling the biggest community of maps contributors to surface real-time road disruptions on the map.” The company said that it has also updated the app interface to make it easier to report crashes, slowdowns, construction, lane closures, stalled vehicles, and objects on the road. 

The country’s local players such as MapMyIndia and Ola Maps have been challenging the US tech giant by focusing on region-specific features and offline accessibility, but still account for only a small fraction of the consumer-end navigation market.