Part of it is that pax telling drivers to ignore the app can be a scam. They tell the driver to take a "better way", which turns out to be a worse way, and then

Part of it is that pax telling drivers to ignore the app can be a scam. They tell the driver to take a "better way", which turns out to be a worse way, and then they complain to Uber and ask to get a refund. So a lot of drivers prefer to simply listen to the app even when suboptimal as that way only the app can be blamed.