back to article Scrunched Street View spymobile spied in India

A brief vid has popped up on YouTube purportedly showing a pranged Street View spymobile in northern India. A still showing the crashed Street View car in a rocky gorge The 22-second clip also features someone venting his spleen at the Great Satan of Mountain View by lobbing rocks at the wrecked Orwellian black Opel, as you …

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  1. wowfood

    Hmm

    The guy was probably using google maps as a GPS

    "Turn Right now"

    what? SHIIIIIIIIII-------

  2. Wize

    Was this one of their...

    ...self drive cars that never have accidents?

    1. AlexH
      WTF?

      Re: Was this one of their...

      No. No, it wasn't.

      For two reasons:

      1) Google don't have (nor have they ever claimed to have) 'self drive cars that never have accidents'

      2) Any self-drive cars Google do have are being tested in San-Francisco and, more recently, Nevada. Incidentally, they appear to be performing very well.

      Some might argue that the self-driving car was jumping the gun when they've still to invent the self-typing keyboard that never posts retarded comments...

      1. SoaG
        Holmes

        Re: Was this one of their...

        You mean retarded comments by people incapable of spotting obvious (albeit a poor attempt) humour? Like, say, yourself?

      2. Greg Williams
        FAIL

        Re: Was this one of their...

        Hrm.

        Was your sense of humour surgically removed and replaced with heavy doses of smugness and self-righteous delusions of grandeur?

        I mean... you're commenting on a semi-humorous article on The Register. You're not providing peer review in a scientific journal.

        That high horse... best come down off it before you break your fool neck.

      3. icetrout
        Black Helicopters

        Re: Was this one of their...

        & dumb-bunny Google-Shills that infiltrate blogs...

  3. AndyS

    That wmnguyen guy probably has a point. I mean, cars don't actually ever crash? His explanation is much simpler.

    One time I thought I saw a car crash, but later I realised They had just implanted the memory.

  4. Reue
    WTF?

    eh

    Why is this news worthy?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: eh

      Because it was comment worthy....

    2. ItsNotMe
      FAIL

      Re: eh

      Since when did ANYTHING on the Reg have to be "news worthy"?

      Just give folks something else to make fun of.

    3. Ru
      Facepalm

      Re: eh

      What's that you say? Never heard of Bootnotes?

      Welcome to the Register!

  5. JDX Gold badge

    Why is every car with a camera automatically a Google car, when other people do the same thing?

    1. Blofeld's Cat
      Facepalm

      The mind Googles...

      "Why is every car with a camera automatically a Google car, when other people do the same thing?"

      This one has a sign saying "Google" on the door, which is a bit of a clue really.

      1. This Side Up
        Stop

        Re: The mind Googles...

        "This one has a sign saying "Google" on the door, which is a bit of a clue really."

        But if you were a Pakistani agent or Mosad or whatever the KGB is these days would you put that on the doors or would you pretend to be Google?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: The mind Googles...

          Do you really think they would drive around in a car with more VDMs than you can shake a stick at?

          I think not. It would make their movements far too visible.

          (VDM: visually distinguishing mark)

    2. ItsNotMe
      FAIL

      @JDX

      Seriously?

  6. 404

    Good Info

    New Google Streetview feature: " And this is what it would look like if you crash at this location... ambulance response time...."

    ;)

  7. DJ Smiley
    FAIL

    Mean while unruley teen attacks car unprovoked!

    Oh please let google get this guys face and sue him for criminal damage; that'd make my day

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Mean while unruley teen attacks car unprovoked!

      They might have a job working out which of the dents he caused.

  8. squilookle
    WTF?

    I read that headline as "Google Street View skymobile crashes spectacularly". Only twigged when I realized it was an Astra in the picture and not some kind of light aircraft which is what I was expecting.

    I'm a little disappointed, if I'm honest, but oh well.

    Wonder how fast they were going? If they were taking pictures, I would expect them to be going slowly, unless they were fleeing an anti-Google mob...

    1. Tom 35

      spectacularly

      "I'm a little disappointed, if I'm honest, but oh well."

      I was expecting something like what you see in an old movie...

      Through the guardrail, down a steep embankment, driver jumps at the last second before the car goes off a cliff (it he is the good guy), bursts into flame, crashes into the rocks at the bottom, then explodes, and explodes a few more times just to make sure.

      This was hardly spectacular.

  9. caffeine addict
    Stop

    The car does look a little small compared to the driver, but humans have an annoying habit of not being a standard size.

    More importantly - where is the car supposed to have come from? The camera man is stood on a narrow ridge. Is the car supposed to have fallen off the ridge, or driven up the other side at high speed?

    1. Random K
      Coffee/keyboard

      Annoying Habits

      "humans have an annoying habit of not being a standard size"

      You sir, owe me a keyboard. I'm adding this to my email signature (with appropriate attribution of course).

  10. James Yeomans 1
    Facepalm

    The Flickr picture is date 14th July 2011 (although the upload is dated 23rd July 2012.. Camera could be wrong I guess but otherwise, it's REALLY old news..

    1. david skinner
      FAIL

      Wow.... you think he might not of just set the camera date wrong?

      1. Eddy Ito

        To be fair

        the exif data on the pic says it was taken with an Olympus SP570UZ which is a compact 20x zoom camera but also indicates it had a fixed focus Panasonic Lumix lens. It isn't just the date that's wrong, someone has been playing with the exif data.

  11. dharmaseal
    WTF?

    CIA Geo Surveys?

    Why do folks put up with these spy buggies canvassing their neighborhoods? It's so easy to just run them out.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Facepalm

      Re: CIA Geo Surveys?

      Because its a useful service? I'll bet most of the people who complain about not liking their house appearing on streetview are quite happy to use it to look at other peoples.

  12. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Devil

    Personal Defense Weapon, Google Sir?

    May I recommend Heckler & Koch MP5 compact version. Can be kept in the glove compartment. This also very nice, Fabrique Nationale P90, has patented linear magazine, very maniable. Keeps people away. No more stone throwing.

    1. kain preacher

      Re: Personal Defense Weapon, Google Sir?

      Go for the p90 and AP rounds.

    2. Big_Boomer Silver badge
      Megaphone

      Re: Personal Defense Weapon, Google Sir?

      OVERKILL,.....

      it's an Astra. You can kill it with paintballs or Nerf bullets.

      W.r.t the location, was probably stolen and driven there for a bit of "off-roading" by the tea-leaves.

      Has anyone ever attacked the cameras on the Google cars with a paintball gun?

      Spray cans? Plastic bag pulled over the cameras?

      Am I giving someone ideas? :-)

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Personal Defense Weapon, Google Sir?

      "May I recommend Heckler & Koch MP5 compact version. Can be kept in the glove compartment. This also very nice, Fabrique Nationale P90, has patented linear magazine, very maniable"

      Both MP5 and P90 are available to you in "Far Cry", which, if it weren't for a few nasty bugs that CryTech was never able to squash, might be the best FPS ever released.

      Then again, the P90's in my Gibson ES-137P were very very nice too.

      1. The Flying Dutchman
        Thumb Up

        Re: the P90's in my Gibson ES-137P

        Single coil rules OK.

    4. Ian Michael Gumby
      Boffin

      Re: Personal Defense Weapon, Google Sir?

      A bit dated.

      H&K has an MP-7 which fires a smaller round yet at a higher velocity. Depending on the projectile, you can easily penetrate body armor and metal.

      With respect to FN, you want the P92 which is the full auto version. And you'll want the steel core rounds which again are capable of penetrating body armor.

      Then there's the Kris which fires s .45 ACP round.

      All are limited to military and LE purchases, so maybe stick with a tried and true M1 which fires 8 rounds of .30-'06? (While not a PDF... still fun to shoot.)

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Devil

    Every IT project in India ends with a crash....

    ... were they trying to avoid an Holy Cow?

    1. Alan Dougherty
      Stop

      Re: Every IT project in India ends with a crash....

      A... 'a' Holy Cow.. the H, followed by a vowel, means the 'h' is ignored.. usually.. but definitely in this case..

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Not if you're posh?

        I've heard, "an hotel."

        1. phear46

          Re: Not if you're posh?

          You heard it from a idiot then. Alan is correct here....

          Go on Nazis.... Take the bait!

        2. Figgus

          Re: Not if you're posh?

          With a word starting in "hol*" I would use an, so you don't say a-hole to someone.

          1. This post has been deleted by its author

          2. Alan Dougherty
            Headmaster

            Re: Not if you're posh?

            Where you off on an holiday recently?

      2. Medium Dave

        Technically, it depends how it's spoken...

        ...which is a bit tricky when written down, granted. If the h is dropped (try saying "An 'oly cow" in your finest Terry Jones accent) it would be written as 'An holy cow' - just as you would say "I'll be there in an 'our" but write 'I'll be there in an hour'.

        (I'm assuming you don't actually pronounce the h in hour...)

        "A historic occasion" sounds great in received pronunciation but crap in cockney: "An historic occasion" is vice versa.

        The only time to haul people up on it is when they write 'an herb'. Not because it's wrong per se, but because it means they say "an 'erb" and therefore need a good slapping on general principle.

        </phonetic pedant>

  14. Ben Norris
    Mushroom

    I'm surprised the camera gear and laser rangefinders are still on it, that stuff is worth more than the car!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I'm pretty certain the rules of maritime salvage don't apply here! Or I don't think it's an Antonov An-12 filled with illegal arms that a certain arms dealer wants shot of.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    3d joy ride

    Oh please say it was stolen and still recording, can you imagine the evidence?

    "At this point your honour the vehicle was travelling at 72.39mph on a heading of 145'30" narrowly missing the home of Mrs Gupta who was composing an email to her daughter.....", "Unfortunately we were unable to identify any of the people who stole the car or those who were passed on the way, though it is believed one road-side witness may have had a horses head."

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      and we do have Mrs Gupta's email on disc.

  16. davtom
    Coat

    "Hello... You got the data? Excellent. Let's go home."

    "Waddaya mean we left the driver behind?"

    Mine's the one with the dodgy GPS receiver in the pocket...

  17. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Why is there always some twat

    who thinks its funny to smash stuff up? Ok , the cars off the road but does the idiot in the video really think he's clever or amusing by throwing rocks at it - has he only just evolved from a chimp or what? It amazes me with the sheer number of morons on this planet how any social evolution ever managed to happen.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why is there always some twat

      Throwing rocks pre-dates social evolution.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Facepalm

        Re: Why is there always some twat

        "Throwing rocks pre-dates social evolution."

        Whoooosh.....

  18. Ian Michael Gumby
    Headmaster

    Ok... I have to ask...

    1) Can anyone really read that it says Google on the side of the car?

    It could say Navteq for all I know. (Navteq also has a fleet of cars, although they may say Nokia these days.)

    2) If this is India, why is the guy talking in an American accent saying 'Cool Dude!' ?

    3) Where's the road that this vehicle supposedly came from? (I've never been to India, so maybe that was the road?

    One of the stooges, obviously because only a stooge would drive a car in to the ditch like that.

    1. Blofeld's Cat

      Re: Ok... I have to ask...

      "1) Can anyone really read that it says Google on the side of the car?"

      The video is not very good but if you look at the Flickr link from the article or the picture on:

      AutoEvolution

      You can read the somewhat dusty sign.

      1. Ian Michael Gumby
        Alien

        @ Blofeld's Cat... Re: Ok... I have to ask...

        Thx.

        Didn't know about the photo... Yeah, its a Google car.

        As to the American Accents... ok, probably some tourists,

        As to the road. Not much of a road.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ok... I have to ask...

      There is also no sign of the rocks behind the car being disturbed and no parts of the car on the rocks, therefore everything points to this being a staged event.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Ok... I have to ask...

      1) Yes - http://www.flickr.com/photos/80810385@N08/7629315132/sizes/h/in/pool-98378256@N00/

      2) No american tourists have ever been to India, you must be right, it's a fake!

      3) The road is at the top of that embankment that the car is that the bottom of. Sort of obvious, no?

  19. mraak
    Trollface

    Why are idiots throwing stones at a car?

    Clearly Apple fanbois.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Throws...

    ...like a girl.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Holmes

    The car has a Himachal Pradesh (India) number plate.

    The guy is wearing a "Travel bookshop" t-shirt. The URL on his sleave is something.cz

    We'd better start eliminating the impossible....

    1. A Known Coward

      travelbookshop.ch - it's clear as day in the full res Flickr photos

  22. brooxta
    Alien

    Curiously

    ... this is part of the first set of colour images captured by Curiosity this morning.

    As you can see, Google tried to one-up NASA (in a bet between Page/Brin and Bolden where the stakes were landing/take-off rights at more NASA landing strips), by beating them to the LZ on Mars. Sadly their G-Rocket (beta) landing system has atrocious latencies via Odyssey and the whole thing came to a sorry end.

    NASA were obviously chuffed to bits to hit the LZ successfully and get some shots of the pranged G-Rover for bragging. What took everybody by surprise, however, was the sight of an indignant amanfrommars dinging said G-Rover with prime specimen Martian rock samples in response to Google's brazen intrusion into his previously unmolested (and indeed uncontended) home wifi system.

    PMOIDH? Please?

  23. imanidiot Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Really?

    Is it really THAT hard to see both the video and the pics are faked? In the video the specular lighting on the vehicle is almost non existent. It's a matte uniform blob basically. The shadow angles don't match, and the perspective seems to be off too.

    As for the pictures, the "reflections" in the hood and roof are clearly of a cloudy sky at sunset (note, clouds with orange-y lighting) yet the sky's are very clearly completely clear and the photo's appear to be taken slightly after mid-day. Again, the shadow angles don't exactly match. Furthermore the shadow of the car on the ground is almost non-existent. It's just a darker area, with no clearly defined edges. (Yet all other shadows are hard-edged)

    It surprises me what people will debate over as to being real or not. It should be obvious.

    1. A Known Coward
      FAIL

      Re: Really?

      Orange clouds reflected in the roof? You mean the orange/red _dust_ on the blue roof?

      As for the shadows, the light source is behind the embankment, the car is in indirect light, the objects in the foreground are in direct light.

      What's with the wild conspiracy theories? Are Google fans even crazier than Apple fans?

      1. imanidiot Silver badge

        Re: Really?

        Uhmmm, No, the car is not in indirect light, several of it's parts should be in full sunlight casting shadows. yet they are not.

        And if that's supposed to represent dust on an otherwise shiny roof, they've done a very VERY poor job of it. (Seriously, go look at some real pics of actually dusty cars)

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Just a test, nothing to see...

    Its simply Google which tries to come up with new ways to delete all the wifi data these cars are slurping.

  25. Steen Eugen Poulsen
    FAIL

    Darwin award...

    Uhm, not sure about AmericaM law, but isn't the guy on the video committing a crime by harming the vehicle?

  26. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    What Global Operating Devices do for your Living in Live Operational Virtual Environments

    An AIRegisterD Mission for Alien Life and Augmented Reality Games too .... Giving you something really weird and virtually strange to think about and realise is possibly not a true and accurate depiction of a virtual reality ... a staged post actuality ...... thus to peak and pique and reprogram Curious IntelAIgent Operating Systems for Prime Primitive Human Virtual Machine Use incapable of Current Misuse and Power Abuse in Beta Future Projects with SMARTR ProgramMING Assets.

    Proprietary Intellectual Property Supply and Patents Pending although one is free to make great personal and private and mutually beneficial public use of all that one needs and finds in a search through the ProgramMING Games Portfolio.

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