[boomboomsubban]

Was there ever a lawsuit against GPS providers telling people to turn right into something like a lake? I couldn't immediately find one except a women who walked in the middle of a highway because that's what Google's route showed.

It seems like the same ruling would apply to both, which could effect consumer GPS somewhat.

[rhino369]

Even ignoring that a driver is presumed to be more capable (licensed + an adult), driving into a lake is somewhat more obviously dangerous.

Everyone should know not to touch a live plug. But electricity is a more abstract concept and knowing whether the shock will kill you vs. merely stun is probably outside the common knowledge of most people. It's not entirely unreasonable to assume that if Amazon is telling you to touch a plug, that it's not going to horribly maim/kill you. It's dumb, but not so dumb that Amazon should escape liability for it.

[ComputerGuru]

Turning into an actual lake requires a special degree of inattentiveness or over-reliance on the GPS, but I'll confess to turning into a one-way in a neighborhood I was not familiar with because "the GPS made me do it." For what it's worth, the officer that pulled me over a split-second later was angry with but accepting of my explanation (one of the few times in my life that I've been pulled over but not ticketed... probably because it didn't get far enough for them to ask for my license).

[micromacrofoot]

ehh an adult driving a car has the reasonable expectation of making safe decisions to avoid driving into a body of water… could I blame the GPS for slamming into the car in front of me or hitting a pedestrian?

I think there’s a considerable difference from giving a child instructions to electrocute themselves… they literally don’t know better. They’re not licensed or educated.

[boomboomsubban]

>an adult driving a car has the reasonable expectation of making safe decisions to avoid driving into a body of water

The famous example of that happened in the middle of the night during a storm, but you can use the other common example of being told to turn the wrong way into a one way.

The two scenarios seem similar, an ai giving dangerous directions and I suspect the difference in age and experience would not effect the precedent.

[micromacrofoot]

sure but we’re failing if we’re teaching adults to blindly follow ai

[cpuguy83]

In both situations I don't think this is "blindly following ai". If you are unfamiliar with an area, hence why you are using gps, then it is reasonable that someone does not know a street is a one way and it may not be immediately evident.

Add time of day or inclimate weather to the situation and things can get bad quickly.

[micromacrofoot]

I suppose, though I was thinking of the “dark storm” example… which sounds like almost literally following gps blind. That’s the situation drivers ed teaches you to pull over and wait.

Even one way… maybe you can make the case that the city isn’t labeling roads well, but when in doubt there are other cues like parked cars and the direction other road signs face. These are problems that also predate gps. If a passenger told me that it wasn't a one-way and they were wrong, it’s not the passenger’s fault when it comes to legality, it almost always falls on the operator.

[cpuguy83]

Yes you are right that is literally following gps blindly, and probably people should pull over.

[dspillett]

> Was there ever a lawsuit against GPS providers telling people to turn right into something like a lake?

I can't remember any lawsuits, but there have certainly been insurance claims rejected, appealed, and rejected again, on the basis that the policy presumes a certain level of driving with due care and attention.

No doubt the small print of policies are now festooned with text specific to trusting tech to the point of life-threatening stupidity, rather than relying on more general provision, if they didn't already have it.

> It seems like the same ruling would apply to both

The key difference in this case is that the actor is a child, and legally can't be held responsible in the same manner. So if it did apply it would be to the adult who installed the device or an adult considered responsible within the household, not the child that used the device.

[corobo]

Wasn't this an episode of The Office?

No way that was based on a true story.. was it?

[boomboomsubban]

Dunno, this was the event I remembered hearing about and it was clearly post show. https://abcnews.go.com/International/woman-drives-car-canadi...