Uber car drives down flight of stairs in US because app said so

44516058 – man sitting in the car and holding smart phone with map gps navigation application

An Uber driver decided to take a shortcut, but got stuck for nearly two hours trying to go down a flight of stairs.

The white Toyota Camry was found on the stairs of a pedestrian walkway at around 1:23 p.m. local time, outside a Safeway store on Market Street in San Francisco, USA.

The San Francisco Police Department said the car was being driven by a man named Fred. He had been with Uber for less than a year. Fred had been driving two passengers at the time of the incident. He later exited the vehicle and gave his statement to the police, as reported by Business Insider. According to the driver, the Uber app instructed him to go down the flight of stairs.

San Francisco news website KRON4 tweeted photos from the site of the incident.

Authorities attempted to lower the car from the top of the stairs using a tow truck. By 3 p.m. they managed to nudge the car loose but the tow truck’s cable snapped. This led to the car sliding down the stairs and crashing onto a bolted trash can, knocking it loose.

The driver later commented that Safeway should make changes in its parking space to avoid a repeat of the incident.  Alfred Bayle /ra