Californians were left in a pickle after GPS took them on a shortcut through Nevada desert

Los Angeles tourists were leaving the Las Vegas Grand Prix in the US state of Nevada, when they were misdirected by Google Maps – as their GPS ‘shortcut’ turned into a far more scenic and treacherous route than they’d realized.

It took them off-road along a desert path.

What’s more, they found themselves in several cars in the middle of a dust storm.

They were left scared, stranded – and possibly a little suspicious of their GPS directions in the future.

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The ill-advised GPS shortcut

TikToker Shelby Easler was traveling home from the Las Vegas GP with friends when they put a little too much faith into modern technology.

They’d been enjoying the Las Vegas Grand Prix – although presumably, they had tickets and weren’t employing the same hack as some cunning fans.

Sadly, the shortcut was a gravel trail unsuitable for regular vehicles and they found themselves stranded during a dust storm that was causing the delays on Interstate 15 that sparked their search for a ‘shortcut’.

“We ironically thought it would be a safer option, and it did say it would be 50 minutes faster,” she shared.

However, it was actually ‘two hours out of the way’.

In slightly different terrain, 20 cars following GPS were all stuck on a snowy road in Oregon last month.

Plus a BMW driver got his $145,000 B3 Touring stuck on an Austrian hiking trail after blindly following his GPS.

Forced to abandon the car

@justdoingshelbythings Still stuck in vegas send help 😭 #vegas #stuckinthedesert #f1 #freewayclosed #offroading #trafficjam #lost #sos #wherearewe #desert #donkeys ♬ origineel geluid – Tik Toker

Emergency services were called due to them feeling ‘trapped’, but were reportedly told that personnel were preoccupied with the ongoing dust storm.

“The path was like dug into the ground, so we couldn’t really turn around. There were cars in front of us, cars behind us so we kind of got pinned,” she added.

Forced to drive over ‘bushes and rocks’ before the vehicle broke down, the car was so ‘scratched up’ that the group was forced to abandon their damaged car in the Nevada desert to fly home.

@justdoingshelbythings Replying to @moomoolatte ♬ original sound – shelby

A separate trove of decaying classic cars and boats was also found in the Nevada desert – although we presume that they didn’t just get lost.

Google made a statement to The New York Post in response to the TikTok allegations: “During unpredictable conditions, we work as quickly as possible to update routing based on information from local authorities and sudden changes to driving patterns.

“We’re investigating the issue that happened over the weekend, and can confirm that we’re routing drivers through Interstate 15 since it’s been reopened.”