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Kind Navigation

 When I am driving in a familiar place, I try not to use navigation - it was a bad habit to have such needless reliance and become a lazy driver, so I made an effort to change. This NYT opinion piece about the perils of over-reliance on navigation apps is very much relatable. If there is a toll-road and I have not explicitly asked to avoid it, I will find myself paying needless toll. The time savings sometimes can be under two minutes so its not really needle-moving. In times of traffic slow-downs, it is common to see a large number of drivers taking the de-tour the app is recommending to save time. Beyond a point, that detour stops being a time-saver because too many people are dumped on a route that was not ready to handle the influx. So now you have two ways to get late instead of one.

 I love the idea of having an app adapt to the what the driver wants and this can be quite variable. I might want efficiency on my commute to work but want to see the sea-shore while on a holiday. I would infact appreciate it very much if the app recommended a scenic route and places to stop along the way - that is adding real value to the driving experience. The multiple lane changes in peak traffic hours to make the next exit is a bad idea for the driver and for everyone else on the road - specially when the driver is in unfamiliar territory. They are doing as told by the app and creating risk for everyone. Maybe the better idea is to stay off the freeway until better merge options are available. It would be nice to see optimizations that reduced driver stress making difficult maneuvers and make the drive comfortable.

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