Google Maps faces questions over car accident in India

Can a navigation app be held liable if a user has an accident?

That question is being asked in India after three men died when their car veered off an unfinished bridge and plunged into a riverbed in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Police are still investigating the incident, which occurred on Sunday, but believe Google Maps led the group to take that route.

Earlier in the year, part of the bridge had reportedly collapsed due to flooding, and although locals knew this and avoided the bridge, the three men were unaware and came from outside the area. There were no barricades or signs indicating that the bridge was not yet completed.

Authorities have named four engineers from the state’s highway department and an unnamed Google Maps official in a police complaint of involuntary manslaughter.

A Google spokesperson told BBC Hindi that it was cooperating with the investigation.

The tragic accident highlighted India’s poor road infrastructure and sparked debate about whether navigation apps like Google Maps are partly responsible for such incidents.

Some blame the app for not providing accurate information, while others argue that it is a major failure of the government for not locking down the place.

Google Maps is the most popular navigation app in India and has become synonymous with GPS (Global Positioning System), a satellite-based radio navigation system.

It also supports the services of many ride-hailing, e-commerce and food delivery platforms. The app supposedly has around 60 million active users and experiences around 50 million searches per day.

However, the app has often come under fire for providing incorrect directions, sometimes leading to fatal accidents.

In 2021, a man from the state of Maharashtra drowned after driving his car into a dam, allegedly while following instructions on the app.

Last year, two young doctors in Kerala state died after driving their car into a river. Police said they followed a route indicated by the app warned against it I relied on it too much when the streets were flooded.

But how does Google Maps find out about changes on a street?

GPS signals from users’ apps track traffic changes along routes – an increase signals congestion, while a decrease suggests a road is being used less. The app also receives updates from governments and users about traffic jams or closures.

Complaints related to high traffic volumes or those reported by authorities are given priority because Google doesn’t have the manpower to handle the millions of complaints it receives every day, said Ashish Nair, founder of mapping platform Potter Maps and a former Google Maps executive Employees.

“A map operator then uses satellite imagery, Google Street View and government notifications to confirm the change and update the map.”

According to Mr Nair, navigation apps cannot be held responsible for mishaps because their terms of service make it clear that users must use their own judgment on the road and that the information provided by the app may differ from actual conditions.

Plus, for a platform like Google, which manages maps around the world, it’s just very difficult to keep track of all the changes on a road, he adds.

Unlike other countries, India also does not have a robust system to report such issues in a timely manner.

“Data remains a major challenge in India. There is no system to log infrastructure changes in a web interface that can then be used by apps like Google Maps. Countries like Singapore have such a system,” says Nair.

He adds that India’s large population and rapid development make it even more difficult to obtain accurate, real-time data. “In other words, bad cards will persist until governments become more proactive in collecting and sharing data.”

Lawyers disagree about whether GPS apps can be legally held responsible for traffic accidents.

Lawyer Saima Khan says digital platforms like Google Maps are protected from liability by India’s Information Technology (IT) Act as it grants them the status of an “intermediary” (a platform that merely disseminates information provided by third parties).

However, she adds that if it can be proven that the platform did not correct its data despite providing correct and timely information, it could potentially be held liable for negligence.

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