I rented a GPS unit to go with the car in France and it kept trying to kill me be suggesting I drive down one-way streets in the wrong direction. Shut it off and bought a map.
I don’t trust my GPS. It tells me I have 0.8 miles to go when my bumper is on the intersection where I have to turn. It also thinks that the fastest route between two points is through downtown. I once asked it to take me from New York to Roanoke Virginia and it selected local streets through every town in New Jersey and downtown Philadelphia.
Every year there is another story (or several) about folks whose GPS sent them on a ‘shortcut’ not maintained county road through the Sierras in December – or a similarly unimproved jeep trail through the Escalante Wilderness in July (pulling a camper).
Ain’t no shortage of dumb out there – reinforced by bad technology.
I haven’t had a GPS take me off a cliff, but I’ve had them take me pretty far away from where I was going, as well as down dirt roads that weren’t even the shortest route.
A self driving car may be a blessing when I can no longer drive safely myself, but I hope they’re working on a way to give it common sense.
I like to play “Dueling GPSs.” I use my Garmin and Google Maps on my cel phone. When going to my mother’s house, I tell them both, “Don’t tell me to turn there! I grew up in this neighborhood!”
Unlike what seems like everyone else in the world, I really haven’t had any issues with GPS. If you think an instruction is bad, just do something different and make it calculate a different route based on what you did. My phone’s GPS also has a reasonably accurate map of the area, and it’s not like a physical map is going to know what roads are closed or changed either.
Dtroutma about 7 years ago
PEOPLE will do it if the GPS says to!
Nuliajuk about 7 years ago
I rented a GPS unit to go with the car in France and it kept trying to kill me be suggesting I drive down one-way streets in the wrong direction. Shut it off and bought a map.
Gent about 7 years ago
Ha ha. Good one. (Stupid GPS goofed up recently and sent us on wrong way again. Or was that a wrongly marked place on map? Oh, whatever)
DanFlak about 7 years ago
I don’t trust my GPS. It tells me I have 0.8 miles to go when my bumper is on the intersection where I have to turn. It also thinks that the fastest route between two points is through downtown. I once asked it to take me from New York to Roanoke Virginia and it selected local streets through every town in New Jersey and downtown Philadelphia.
cubswin2016 about 7 years ago
I prefer a map.
thebashfulone about 7 years ago
Now that we have vented our collective spleen about GPS—everybody’s gotta admit, this is a very funny comic!
NORTHIDAHO about 7 years ago
Every year there is another story (or several) about folks whose GPS sent them on a ‘shortcut’ not maintained county road through the Sierras in December – or a similarly unimproved jeep trail through the Escalante Wilderness in July (pulling a camper).
Ain’t no shortage of dumb out there – reinforced by bad technology.
Kaputnik about 7 years ago
I haven’t had a GPS take me off a cliff, but I’ve had them take me pretty far away from where I was going, as well as down dirt roads that weren’t even the shortest route.
A self driving car may be a blessing when I can no longer drive safely myself, but I hope they’re working on a way to give it common sense.
Charlie Tuba about 7 years ago
I like to play “Dueling GPSs.” I use my Garmin and Google Maps on my cel phone. When going to my mother’s house, I tell them both, “Don’t tell me to turn there! I grew up in this neighborhood!”
Reaven about 7 years ago
Unlike what seems like everyone else in the world, I really haven’t had any issues with GPS. If you think an instruction is bad, just do something different and make it calculate a different route based on what you did. My phone’s GPS also has a reasonably accurate map of the area, and it’s not like a physical map is going to know what roads are closed or changed either.