Google Maps is probably one of the most important tools on your smartphone today. Apart from bringing the entire map of the world into your palms, it also serves as a local guide, as well as offers live traffic information. While it seems like a big deal, the functioning of the live traffic feature is actually quite simple.
Google is constantly collecting information from all Android devices, and it does the same to predict traffic on a certain road. Google’s AI ascertains that there is traffic on a particular road or street by checking the number of Android devices on that particular road. This also means, that this feature is very easy to hack, and that is exactly what Simon Weckert, a Berlin-based artist did. Having a fondness for technology and the digital world, Weckert put 99 second-hand phones in a cart, and slowly pulled them along various streets and roads.
The result was that Google Maps’ servers interpreted this as traffic congestion thereby showing the same to people using the service. The ‘fake’ traffic made drivers avoid those roads and streets, which were actually empty. This simple trick proved that Google definitely needs to tweak a thing or two and how its navigation system isn’t flawless. The hack also proves how dependent we are on technology these days.
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