A curious video has emerged showing the aftermath of a bizarre incident where two tourists in Hawaii drove their minivan straight into a harbor. And the reason? Their GPS told them to. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would willingly drive their vehicle into a body of water, especially when common sense should kick in and say “This is not right.”
It’s unclear what was going through the driver’s mind — but it’s even worse that someone else was in the passenger seat and went along for the ride; the incident raises questions about the reliability of GPS systems and whether people should blindly trust them.
Two tourists in Hawaii mistakenly followed a GPS route straight into a harbor, and remained stuck while water poured in their car — until a sailboat crew rescued them. pic.twitter.com/g7QG0VNcRE
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 3, 2023
While autonomous vehicles are sometimes criticized for their safety, this story is proof that human error can also cause dangerous situations. If the minivan had been autonomous, at least the blame could have been placed on the car, not the driver.
Fortunately, a nearby sailboat crew quickly came to the rescue, using ropes to tie the minivan and retrieve the passengers. While the passengers were rescued, the minivan slowly sank deeper and deeper into the harbor. The video shows the windshield wipers still going as the minivan disappears underwater, leaving viewers with a mix of shock and amusement.
Interestingly enough, this incident resembles a scene from the popular TV show “The Office”, where a character blindly follows his GPS and drives straight into a lake — maybe the driver in this incident would have been better off learning from Michael Scott’s mistake.