Lorraine Explains: Who’s at-fault if a GPS leads a driver into tragedy?

Do you all the time comply with the GPS’ instructions? A wholesome dose of know-how skepticism will not be a nasty factor

What’s a GPS?

Is a GPS dependable?

Who’s at-fault if automotive know-how fails?

Driving a automotive whereas utilizing the contact display of a GPS navigation systemPicture by Getty

Prepare for some spectacular hairsplitting in our courtroom techniques. If a automobile producer explicitly says a driver should stay conscious and in management always, will that be sufficient to close down legal responsibility if a driver misuses it? What about if a security system — say, preventative braking — malfunctions and causes a crash earlier than a driver has time to override it?

Years in the past, I bought used to testing out a press automobile’s GPS by pulling up my favoured system on my telephone on the identical time. Two heads (computer systems?) are higher than every person that. Passengers additionally might need a tackle issues, and there’ll all the time be a paper map in my glovebox.

The courts will resolve if Google (the deepest pockets accessible on this N.C. lawsuit) had an onus to stop this tragic dying, however for the remainder of us, a wholesome dose of know-how skepticism remains to be not a nasty factor.