Somewhat baffled by this one, as it regularly gets hour-plus journeys correct to within two minutes or so. When everyone at least up here in the countryside regularly drives 10kmph over the limit how does Google get it so right? Does it just calculate based on the assumption that people drive over the limit?
EDIT: Thanks for all the answers, interesting stuff! Lot of very silent downvoters on this sub though…
6 comments
Machine learning. Every time someone uses it, it improves itself.
Because enough people are using the app that it keeps track of how long it takes to get from point a to point b and has enough data to give you a realistic estimate.
It also tracks you and how you drive so it knows how you perform relative to others.
You’d be surprised how much data Google collects and how it uses it. Some of the guys who got sick of Google routing people through their neighborhoods for instance got a bunch of burner phones and tricked it into thinking there was a traffic jam in the neighborhood.
Not always: https://imgur.com/a/Bt81Ah1
I make it my mission to beat the time
This is purely guestimstion:
It’s constantly updating your position and thus estimated arrival time with GPS.
There will be an algorithm that has a time based on speed limits, travel route and destination, call that Y. As you travel at whatever speed it would then take into account your position relative to Y, and would therefore adjust the time accordingly, so if half way through your journey you’re actually 30kmh ahead where you would be according to Y, it’ll work out the time from your current position and adjust.
I always beat it by 5-10 minutes.
I wish they would add a 50cc route