This is a problem that we can fix just by throwing data at it. Now that it's possible for any app to know what routes people actually take, we can do even bette

This is a problem that we can fix just by throwing data at it. Now that it's possible for any app to know what routes people actually take, we can do even better. It's possible to generate cost functions based on what people actually do. This would fix a lot of different types of problems. First: issues like the ones raised in the article. The killer "roads" have never had drivers successfully complete them, so they should have infinite cost. It would handle construction. If the traffic in a route suddenly falls to zero, or suddenly goes from zero to lots, the cost functions can be updated to reroute. It would handle dangerous neighborhoods. Route 31 was the most direct route between my first apartment and Pennsylvania. I once followed MapQuest directions on this route, and it turns out that it takes you through the part of Trenton that makes it one of the top-20 most dangerous cities in the nation (at the time). Nobody really drives this way, so it could route people via safer roads. The problem here is that the companies that already have good databases are probably going to keep them secret, in case they figure out a way to turn that data into more ad revenue