Google Maps routed drivers to slower paths to test traffic congestion relief
anselm · x · 2026-08-28
Google Research, in collaboration with UC Berkeley and Stanford, published a study in Nature Cities detailing large-scale traffic experiments across 10 US cities. Over six months, Google Maps deliberately directed a slice of drivers to routes averaging 30 seconds slower than the optimal path, affecting under 2% of trips. The experiment targeted the congestion caused by the Nash equilibrium in routing apps: when everyone takes the individually fastest route, arteries clog up. The results demonstrate that algorithmic intervention sacrificing local optimality can improve overall network efficiency.
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