this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2024
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My dad uses Google Maps, and he mentioned that it seems to be getting worse. Like, giving him directions that are obviously worse than alternatives. Has anyone else here experienced this?

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[โ€“] [email protected] 29 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

There's an option to prefer fuel saving routes, which are worse most of the time. This was a kinda recent chance and it is enabled by default, try to disable it and see if it helps

[โ€“] [email protected] 18 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

It does indicate the "fuel efficient" route pretty clearly though, and always gives multiple other options including the quickest one that isn't as efficient. If this is what's causing the issue, OP just needs to look closer at what's on their screen.

[โ€“] [email protected] 41 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

needs to look closer at what's on their screen

IT guy here. The number of tickets I could close with this as the root cause.

[โ€“] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

Honestly I wish you were able to. Some of these people have no excuse to be as ill proficient as they are, and maybe that would change if you could just tell them they 'read mother fucker' and let nature take it's course.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

You expect me to READ!? The audacity! ๐Ÿ˜ค

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

In my experience, the "quickest" are more fuel efficient than the "fuel efficient" routes, which take me through residential areas (where every intersection is protected, meaning a stop sign in at least 1 direction) or stair-stepping on county roads where the speed-up/slow-down cycle negates the benefit of driving on slower roads.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

That's fair, although I think that depends a lot on the type of car you drive. There's an option to tell Maps what type of car you drive (electric, hybrid, or gas), which will change the results, because cars with regenerative breaking often get better "city" milage than "highway" milage.

It also probably depends on factors like how aerodynamic your vehicle is, because it makes a huge difference above ~50mph (air resistance/drag increases exponentially with speed)

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago

Fun fact, they let you tell them what kind of vehicle you have for the fuel efficient route. So when we told it we have a PHEV, it started recommending more surface streets than highways. Kinda cool.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

On routes with few starts and stops, the route with the lower speed limit is the more fuel efficient one. Higher speed means higher drag (by the square of speed).

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Mostly because that would be a shorter route then, cars have gears and are more efficient under a higher load so a higher speed, usually around 100kph is most efficient

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Drag is where energy is lost. Drag is a function of speed.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

I know, but a car's efficiency is dependent on more factors than speed and friction alone

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Interesting. Iโ€™ll let him know. Thanks.