New Zealand has just lost its first battleship since World War 2.
Ironically, the HMNZS Manawanui burned and sank during peacetime, cutting down the navy’s small fleet of only nine ships.
The Manawanui crashed into a coral reef while sailing in Samoan waters and caught fire. Its 75-man crew safely evacuated before it sank.
Initial investigation found the crew mistakenly thought the ship was under manual control when it was actually sailing on autopilot. None of the crew had checked if the ship was on autopilot before it crashed, BBC reports.
“Muscle memory should have made the person in control lean over to that panel to check if the screen said autopilot or not,” New Zealand Navy chief Garin Golding told reporters, according to BBC.
Self-driving technology is not always to blame, however, for transport accidents.
A car with three men aboard was passing on a bridge in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh when it fell into the river below and the men died on 24 November.
A part of the bridge had reportedly collapsed earlier this year due to floods and the locals avoided it. The three fatalities, who were not residents of the area, were not aware the bridge had been damaged as there were no barricades or warning signs.
Police are investigating if the victims were using Google Maps and if the app led the group to the bridge.
Some blamed the app for not providing accurate information while others argued that it was a larger failure on the part of the government for not cordoning off the bridge, BBC reports.