Beat The Machine

I've been using Waze on my daily 20 mile commute for the past few months. And a couple of thoughts right out of the gate... It's not that different from any other Navigational App out there (Google Maps, Apple Maps, your car's own SatNav, etc.). All of them will get you from point A to B... But what's cool about Waze and the reason that I use it is the community aspect. The data is not only pulled from common traffic sources but also from the App's user base of fellow commuters. So if I come up on an accident, or a Police officer shooting radar, I can add it very quickly so other drivers know to look out. It feels a little like sticking it to the man, and that feels pretty good.

Another reason I like this app is the accuracy in which it predicts arrival times. It's freaky scary how spot on they are. If you're like me at all you've played the game called "Beat the GPS". It goes like this, you enter your destination, it calculates your route and gives you an estimated time of arrival. And you say to yourself, there's no way my arrival time is 6:16. I'll beat that by 10 minutes so easily! With old GPS units you'd do it in 12 minutes. And like Garry Kasparov defeating IBM's Deep Blue super computer in a chess match, you've just beat the machine...

However, I've tried to beat Waze and it's nearly impossible. Two minutes was the best I've ever done. Most of the decisions I've made against the app have actually increased my commute time by 5-10 minutes. So 6:16 turns into 6:28 because I thought my route would be faster. Moral of the story, don't fear our new robot overlords. They'll help you get where you need to go lickety-split.