Google Maps has been doing a lot of weird shit lately. I recently went on a road trip, going to a place I hit every year, taking my regular toll-less route, which is mostly 95.

G-Maps kept trying me to take new routes, which had tolls, and took LONGER. It tried to detail me at least a dozen times, just changing my route without my consent. I had to stay on it every minute. I came to the conclusion that Google is cutting deals with states to shift people to toll roads, even if it takes longer. Probably getting a cut of the tolls. So it doesn’t matter which route you want to take, based on less mileage or fastest, they are going to prioritize the route that makes them the most money.

On the way back, I left late, after my event. I expected to drive for a couple of hours, take a nap, and finish. After a few hours, I realize that even though I had put my home address in, like I had a million times before, G-Maps decided I must mean a similar address in a different STATE, and in my tiredness, I didn’t realize it until I was crossing the border into the wrong state. I had to backtrack, and all that time was wasted.

What the fuck is Google Maps doing? That was just one trip. I’ve learned to stay on top of G-Maps. You can’t trust them at all.

Once I’ve got a path plotted, I switch on airplane mode so Google Maps can’t throw me any curveballs.
Then you lose traffic updates. I use Wayze, and it suddenly switched and told me to take a turn and I followed it and neatly circumvented a jacknifed truck and probably a big delay.

I don’t want traffic updates. They keep changing my route to a complicated one I didn’t want, to save like 1 minute in theory. If I could change it to opt-in route suggestions instead of opt-out route switcheroos, then I might like that feature. I am not available to use the phone while I am driving the car.

I loved my old standalone GPS device until it was stolen.

the main reason I use navigation is for traffic, though

but if you know that’s not going to be a concern, absolutely a good idea

I want its opinion on traffic once - before I leave - and that’s it. Once I’m on the road, I absolutely do not want to hear its suggestion to change 3 lanes to catch this next exit.
Where I live, traffic advice can regularly save 20+ minutes driving. My morning commute is wack.