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| Europe |
| French motorway crash after GPS orders U-turn |
| 2004-12-01 |
| Not a France bashing post...just a reminder that reliance on technology has its limits...especially when you're 78 years old. An elderly motorist driving along a 130-kilometre (80-mile) an hour motorway in eastern France caused an accident when he followed the advice of his onboard GPS computer - and made a U-turn to drive into the high-speed traffic. The man told officers his car GPS had [verbally] told him to "make a U-turn immediately" as he drove along lost on the express way near the town of Nancy in search of a hotel. "It's not the first time we've had a GPS incident," one of the officers said, recalling the time a police vehicle found itself face-to-face with a motorist going the wrong way in accordance with his computer's instructions. |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #17 See I was a digital mapper at ETAK a digital map company that was one of the providers of the maps used by Sony and Bosch for their GPS systems. Heh, I almost became one myself; I took the test at Etak's headquarters over ten years ago and was asked to come back again (for another round of tests?) but I ended up getting offered another job by some other company for more money. A shame - I would have loved to get into cartographical work. (also, Garmin's Metroguide USA uses Etak maps) |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-12-01 9:53:35 PM |
| #16 "Kelly's Heroes" was an all-time classic! Love that flick! |
| Posted by: Crusader 2004-12-01 3:51:34 PM |
| #15 Did anyone else think Kelly's Heroes when they mentioned the city of Nancy? |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2004-12-01 11:30:44 AM |
| #14 Ha, a post I can really get into. See I was a digital mapper at ETAK a digital map company that was one of the providers of the maps used by Sony and Bosch for their GPS systems. ETAK was owned by Fox for awhile, then Sony, now they've been bought up by TeleAtlas out of Europe somewhere. The story about the BMW driver going off a pier is true by the way. Maps in the US add fake streets so that you can tell if another company stole your map, usually these are cul-de-sacs so they are harmless but Thomas Brothers sometimes connected roads that should not have been connected (probably what happened with the pier incident) a habit that I've heard really gets to UPS and others who once depended on Thomas Brothers to route their trucks. Every road is double-checked by aerial photos and ground teams. Someone screwed up on the pier one and everyone in the industry heard about it and hoped it wasn't one of their maps. The system used by the Germans were always talking systems, the Japanese had a visual system. Bosch has used talking navigators for some time and one of the keys to making their maps was to trick the software to get the right vocal choice (Half right vs turn right when the driver might see a Y-intersection). Some systems would split the lanes on a split carriageway with each side provided with one-way symbols, others prefered a single highway that would allow u-turns. I'm sure that's what happened in this incident. The system probably said to turn left but there was nowhere to turn so the person continued (or they didn't hear it). Then they passed the left turn so the system told them to uturn to get back to the turn they had missed. A manuever that would be no big deal on a surface street. In all cases it was assumed the driver was intelligent enough to drive. We hadn't considered the French. Okay - mapping stories. We had teams drive every road and confirm addresses and no-left turn signs and such. At they time they drew on very basic subsets of our map called plots. We got intersting notes on the plots. Crack house, was indicated. Man flashed gun, won't return for addresses was another. Big dog and crappy food were others. We had a team of Hasidic Jews working out of NY and they were arrested because someone saw them studying the roads going into the Lincoln Tunnel and reported suspicious middle eastern guys drawing a map. This was before Sept 11 but after the first Trade Center bombing. After the OK City bombing our people who called to confirm addresses started getting a lot less cooperation from stores when they called. Damn it was fun working there, I just wish they made money. Sorry to babble down memory lane. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2004-12-01 11:29:52 AM |
| #13 Just as long as they don't start telling us to send money to Nigeria. PS. half, you're not supposed to stick your... |
| Posted by: Spot 2004-12-01 9:18:48 AM |
| #12 Maximum Overdrive, man. It's coming. |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2004-12-01 9:17:00 AM |
| #11 i live in constant fear of my blender |
| Posted by: half 2004-12-01 8:15:18 AM |
| #10 What's wrong with France bashing posts? |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2004-12-01 7:21:24 AM |
| #9 Mine wants to call itself Hal. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2004-12-01 7:16:26 AM |
| #8 Now I'm starting to wonder if I did the wrong thing when my car navigation system told me to empty my savings account. Hmmm. I thought that request for small, nonsequential, unmarked bills was a bit suspicious at the time. |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2004-12-01 6:25:00 AM |
| #7 They are finding us wanting. We need you John!!! |
| Posted by: Ol_Dirty_American 2004-12-01 5:09:46 AM |
| #6 It is obvious the machines are probing us before they rise! |
| Posted by: John Connor 2004-12-01 2:41:44 AM |
| #5 In the late nineties I read about a guy, in Germany I think, who followed a line on his GPS, thinking it was a road. It turned out to be a pier and he ended up in the water. I don't think it could have been a talking GPS at that early stage of its introduction to the public. If it had been, it would have said, "Get out of there, you idiot, you'll end up in the harbour." |
| Posted by: Bryan 2004-12-01 1:56:38 AM |
| #4 Hmmmm, I wonder if his vehicle is also equipped with "BlondStar". |
| Posted by: GK 2004-12-01 1:22:23 AM |
| #3 Sounds like something the numerous dumbass motorists on the road here in Silicon Valley would do. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-12-01 12:32:16 AM |
| #2 What kind of idiots are the French? A kerry supporter no doubt. |
| Posted by: Floting Granter5198 2004-12-01 12:20:41 AM |
| #1 This goes here because seems i cant comment yesterdays posts. This is a correction to the veichle i refered in that Mr Don Sensing request upon looking at it is a M-109 from German Army and not a PZH2000 |
| Posted by: anon2 2004-12-01 12:06:28 AM |