DEATH BY GOOGLE

Death by Google

In the field of insurance, we came across infinite faces of death. Understanding yet another face of death and paying the insurance money is a part of our profession. Few days ago, we came across yet another unthinkable face of death – Death by Google GPS. Google Maps are useful and dangerous too. By using them many people across the globe found themselves in life-threatening situations. I guess, the insurance industry must add yet another contingency to their existing ones i.e., Death by Google.

Two Kerala based young doctors lost their lives while following the route shown by Google Maps. The Google GPS navigation led them into the treacherous waters of the Periyar river near the Gothuruth area of Kochi on 1st October, 2023. The Press Trust of India (PTI) reports that the doctors relied on the Google GPS owing to darkness, heavy rain, and unfamiliar terrain. The Google GPS did lead them into a waterlogged stretch, causing their Honda Civic sink into the Periyar river.

This is not the first-time people lost lives due to Google Maps. In September 2022, Mr. Philip Paxson, a US Navy veteran, lost his life due to a navigation app mishap. Philip used Google Maps for his journey. The app guided him onto an unmarked, collapsed bridge without warnings, resulting in a fatal accident. Is the Google Map GPS app accurate? Alicia, Philip’s wife said in her lawsuit (September, 2023) that “Google Maps had been directing drivers to use the fallen bridge for years, and that people had warned Google that the bridge was inoperable”.

Google spokesperson José Castaneda acknowledged the lawsuit saying: “We have the deepest sympathies for the Paxson family…our goal is to provide accurate routing information in Maps and we are reviewing this lawsuit.” Please exercise caution when relying on technology for navigation.

Similar to Google Maps, we have the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) of Russia, Galileo of EU, BeiDou of China and Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) of Japan. Recently India made it compulsory (from 2025) their own GPS – Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) and Apple has already integrated its latest iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max with chips embedded with ISRO’s NavIC navigation system. In every country GPS is made mandatory by their governments. GPS is mandatory in all smartphones from 2005 in US.

Moot issue is: Is Google responsible for these fatal accidents? For Google the Google GPS is a money-making advertising and information tool. Will the Public / Product Liability policy of Google indemnify for the loss of lives of two young doctors? Are you listening Google?


About the Author

Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.

What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.

Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com

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