Google Maps Adds Route That Avoids Places Where You Were A Worse Version Of Yourself
The navigation option adds seven minutes but spares users the bar where they invented a laugh.
Google Maps has added a route option that avoids places where users were a worse version of themselves, giving drivers a way around bars, apartments, and parking lots where the app can tell they still flinch.
The new Avoid Former Self setting uses location history, late-night searches, and the number of times a user has slowed down near a bar with no intention of parking.
"Navigation should reduce friction," said Google product manager Harlan Ives. "Sometimes friction is traffic, and sometimes it is the sidewalk outside a place where you wore a leather bracelet and called everyone family."
When activated, the app may add time to a trip while steering users around exes, old jobs, dead friendships, and the taco place where they used to explain cryptocurrency too loudly.
Google said the route is still in beta because several users immediately drove to the avoided location to see if the app was right.
