Driver Claims Waze App Told Them To Drive Into A Lake

It’s not uncommon to use a GPS service or app on a road trip or trip in an unfamiliar location. It’s built right into our phone and we’re encouraged to use it actually. However, it’s not intended to completely replace all thought and common sense.

Well this Jeep owner was in for a surprise when she let a friend borrow the car for a trip so they could launch their boat. And although it was a rainy and dark night, along with a heavy fog and a poorly lit boat launch, she never expected this to happen. A salvage team had to pull the Jeep from the bottom of a lake after it had been there for more than a week. The driver said Google’s Waze GPS app instructed them to drive off of a boat launch and into Lake Champlain.

USA Today reported that the driver and everyone in the Jeep didn’t realize what was happening until they had already slid onto the frozen lake.

The Jeep owner, Tara Guertin, says she naturally thought the GPS instruction was a fluke. But she decided to try a route on the app for herself and got instructed to drive into the lake as well.

Jalopnik reports that a Google spokesperson said they were glad everyone was safe, but that Waze couldn’t explain how the car ended up in a lake.

That leads to the question: are we really that dependant on navigation and technology thinking for us? When should common sense naturally sink in?