[juancb]

I suspect it's more than active traffic management, some of it is bound to be probing streets for which they don't have sufficient data.

I've noticed weird little detours in areas where I'm familiar with but engaged navigation merely for an ETA. To me those little detours that don't save time or avoid construction suggest I'm being used to probe those side streets. It's like being a human ICMP packet.

[cheschire]

This was a “feature” in Waze in which you would be rewarded (with “candy”) for accepting non-standard routes. It helped them find alternative paths to recommend.

Google has since purchased Waze and now recently merged the teams.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/08/tech/google-waze-maps-merge/i...