Navigation apps Apple Maps and Waze directed drivers including Rachael and Thomas onto dangerous unpaved mountain roads during heavy snowfall in Big Bear, California, requiring rescue assistance from other drivers and creating safety hazards.
During Presidents Day Weekend 2023, navigation apps including Apple Maps and Waze directed drivers onto dangerous unpaved roads in Big Bear, California during heavy snowfall conditions. Rachael and Thomas, driving from Los Angeles for a ski trip, consulted both Waze and Apple Maps to avoid heavy traffic when leaving Big Bear. Apple Maps guided them onto an unconventional route that became purely residential, with increasing snow buildup, eventually leading to an unpaved road. Rachael had to exit the car to assess whether to continue forward or turn back, encountering a horse on the property. Multiple other cars following GPS directions ended up on the same dangerous route, creating a caravan of stranded vehicles. A local resident with a snow tire-equipped Jeep eventually helped guide the stranded drivers to safety. California Highway Patrol Officer Ian Hoey confirmed this has been an ongoing issue for years, with many instances of navigational apps providing outdated or incorrect information that routes drivers to unsafe or non-existent routes. The problem has become significant enough that California Highway Patrol and Caltrans have been posting advisories warning against following GPS services in extreme weather conditions, and CHP officers frequently respond to calls from stranded motorists who were 'just following GPS.'
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that fail to perform reliably or effectively under varying conditions, exposing them to errors and failures that can have significant consequences, especially in critical applications or areas that require moral reasoning.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed