[iguana_lawyer]

This article is not well sourced and is inconsistent with lived experience.

Ten years ago navigation apps would almost always recommend freeways even when traffic was stalled and there was a faster route. Now I regularly get guided to exits to take routes through residential neighborhoods during rush hour.

[toyg]

Er, that's actually what the article says. Ten years ago routing was done with fixed databases, whereby a "freeway" (motorway) was always deemed faster. Now it's done with live data, so if the freeway is recorded as slow by cars currently there, apps send you through residential routes. This creates problems for the residential areas, effectively scaling up "rat racing" problems to unsustainable levels.

The author studies this problem for a living, so I'd be wary of calling them up on receipts.