> The vast majority of drivers are on familiar routes and are not navigating via electronic means.

I've been rerouted due to an accident many times, and I've seen the detours get backed up because of people taking more optimal routes (without traffic being redirected via other means).

I'd be curious to see more data on it, but I would speculate it's less than the "vast majority".

> Better question: How are the autonomous cars doing? Are they parked by the side of the road unable to navigate without cell coverage.

Yeah, that falls under my point about Uber/Lyft/taxis. I would speculate there is broader impact from those vs. autonomous cars (that are probably still relatively uncommon).

It only takes a few people missing an exit and swerving to create a bunch of traffic. So many people are used to not navigating manually anymore I can’t imagine it doesn’t have a big effect.

I have a 20-mile commute. I used my phone on day one at the new job, then never again since. It just isn't worth the effort for a road I've driven literally hundreds of times before. Do people also use google maps to get them from their front door to their garage? From the grocery store to wherever they parked their cars?

It depends on your daily commute.

If I need to drive 20 minutes with most of it on the expressway, and they’re prone to accidents and there are multiple viable routes, I’m 100% going to load it up on Maps every trip, if it will save me being delayed 10-60 minutes every few weeks.

But if I’m going mostly backroads, probably not worth it, since you can more easily go around accidents, and they’re less common.

But again, I’m guessing more city expressway commuters use navigation daily than you think.

I do. Mostly from curiosity about which way Google will suggest I go; sometimes because the traffic or road-closure awareness is useful. Though it's often the case that I know about the road closures before it does -- but sometimes it surprises me in a pleasant way.

I use it every day. There are two roughly equivalent paths that I could take, so I use it for information on traffic conditions, and then I leave it running on the off chance that it might route me around a slowdown that wasn't present at the start of my commute.

Two jobs ago, Google Maps literally suggested a different route from my home to work every single day during my first week at the job. The traffic on the main arterial was terrible every day, but somehow Google managed to find different detours every day to shave off a few minutes.

ups is known for optimizing route planning for time and fuel efficiency purposes, particularly biasing towards three right turns instead of a left