Google Maps Took Me on a Midnight Adventure I Never Signed Up For!

(phrased with chatGPT) I faced this harrowing experience with Google Maps on my recent trip. Last week, my wife and I were returning to Bangalore from Kodaikanal after a short vacation. On our way to Kodaikanal, Google Maps kept us on NH44 the entire stretch. But on our way back—at around 1 AM—Google Maps seemed to get a bit adventurous. It directed us onto the unfinished NH844 when we were about two hours from Bangalore. At first, the road was perfectly paved with zero traffic, which seemed great. However, after about 15 km, the route suddenly diverted onto a narrow stretch that wasn’t updated on Google Maps. That’s when I started to feel a bit uneasy—there were some random big rocks lying on the road. My nightmare came true when one of the front tires started feeling a little different. After checking the tire pressure, I noticed it was gradually dropping. Not wanting to waste any more time, I pulled over to check, and to my horror, the inner wall of the left tire was audibly leaking air. I quickly locked my wife in the car and performed the fastest tire change of my life. My hands were shaking from the fear of getting mugged—or worse. During those tense 15 minutes, not a single vehicle passed by, which was both a relief and a concern. In this day and age, you can’t trust anyone. After driving cautiously for a few more kilometers, I was finally overtaken by a yellow-plate Ertiga heading towards Bangalore. Feeling reassured, I switched to low beams and trailed behind it for a while. Eventually, we reached a Y-junction where Google Maps instructed me to take a right, while the taxi went left toward a better-paved road. Assuming the taxi wasn't headed to Bangalore, I followed the map’s suggestion. That turned out to be a mistake—I ended up on an even more remote and desolate road filled with unmarked speed breakers and groups of men drinking by the roadside. With my nerves on edge, I just kept praying to get back onto a proper road. After some time, I finally saw oncoming traffic and felt relieved. But that relief was short-lived. A long line of private buses, blasting their high beams and extra auxiliary lights straight into my eyes, came racing toward me like they were in an F1 competition. I had no choice but to hug the left side of the road as they sped past aggressively. After enduring this blinding laser show, I finally managed to merge onto a larger road—only to find the same taxi I had been following earlier! That’s when I realized the highway was only partially completed, and Google Maps had been completely off in guiding me where to enter or exit.