How Do Navigation Apps Cause More Traffic?

navigation apps since you came into our lives “I know the way, I don’t need navigation.” Even those who say this seem to be left in a corner, right?

Thanks to these wonderful little helpers, finding the shortest route, avoiding traffic and even discovering the nearest gas station is now at our fingertips. But these technological miracles sometimes surprisingly It can create more traffic.

Let’s dig into this ironic situation a bit. For everyone at first glance An application that suggests the fastest path, You may think that it should minimize traffic problems. But the truth is not like that. How Does? Let’s take you downstairs.

When navigation applications sometimes suggest routes that seem to be the most logical to everyone, they can actually fill those routes to the brim.

In a sense, the “shortest path” can suddenly become the “longest path”. In addition, route suggestions provided by smart applications can sometimes even lead to quiet neighborhood roads. It can turn into busy streets. Yes, you heard right!

When everyone starts using the same undiscovered shortcut, that quiet streets can turn into tiny highways, and this neighborhood residents It can have unpleasant consequences for both those who want to use that path.

Navigation applications that aim to take users to their destinations in the fastest and most efficient way actually create a “smart traffic” paradox.

However, every user the same route monitoring creates new traffic jams. Now that I think about it, it sounds familiar, right? Applications that offer you different routes, especially when you go to a new city, It’s like he jumped out of the middle of nowhere It directs you to places.

To better understand the insidious role of navigation apps in generating traffic, it is useful to understand a little bit about how they work.

Applications, we are ordinary with data collected from drivers It calculates which roads are less busy (yes, like our current speed and location). It then sends that information back to everyone on the road. Beautiful, practical, useful but This is where the strangeness begins.

Imagine, you set out for work one morning and the application from the busiest street in the city He directed me to another route. “Wow!” You said and took your new route. But remember, with you thousands of people at the same time received the same information. And that quiet street suddenly became a popular route.

This situation is the “tragedy of the commons” (public property tragedy) It’s like a traffic version of a social phenomenon known as traffic. When everyone tries to make the best choice considering their own interests, the end result is a bad outcome for all of us.

It would be a lie if we said we were surprised, because it was obvious from the moment he directed us to the mountain top that there was something wrong with this… Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments!

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