EDIT: I’m a dum dum.

I use and routinely contribute to OSM, and I hate Google Maps both ethically and because the actual underlying map is just half-baked.

This is a ridiculous explanation for why GMaps suggests nominally slower routes alongside the main one. What’s happening in the OP image is clearly a bug, not Google begging you to pretty please do 8 superfluous minutes of data collection for them.

• Some people have areas they’re more comfortable with. For example, some people are afraid of driving on a bustling highway or through a claustrophobic downtown. Alternative routes make it more likely that this person can forgo a few minutes in favor of something more comfortable.
• The router isn’t omniscient. Sometimes the human using the router knows more about local conditions than the router itself does, e.g. that a road it’s taking you through has a problem. Alternative routes again make it more likely that you give the user a satisfactory route.

This comment is just fucking stupid and based on nothing when a much more cogent explanation exists. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that you travel farther, but seriously? Show any evidence at all that this is why it performs this extremely normal and explicable routing operation.