A driver has taken to social media after Google Maps suggested they take a route four hours longer than was needed – and the app gave a baffling reason for doing so
A driver preparing for a long haul journey was offered a bizarre alternate route by Google Maps that would have added four hours to his trip.
His drive through the High Desert and Reno, from Nevada into California, would take eight hours and 50 minutes at a steady pace on Interstate 80, but Google Maps suggested another route that would add on four hours. It would have taken Twitter/X user @the_thin_air up towards Kennewick, Washington, only to go back down through Bend and past Mount Shasta.
The original post read: “Thinking about adding 4 hours and 200 miles to my trip tomorrow cause I hate turning.” A screenshot showed how Google Maps offered him an alternate route with “fewer turns” that would have taken four more hours.
Despite the longer journey time, people on X suggested he take the 12 hours and 37 minutes route as it would mark a “breath-taking” experience.
One user wrote: “Real talk that drive up through bend and through to mt. hood and the dalles is one of the most breath-taking I’ve ever done. especially in the warm springs reservation, just absolutely desolate and beautiful. [sic]”
Others said they would choose the route not for the views but because their car was not up to scratch. “I would definitely choose that because my car can’t turn,” one wrote. Another pointed out the irony of a road with “fewer turns” having a place called “Bend” on the route. They joked: “Not sure if they can still call it Bend after you take that route.” Another said: “The route with ‘fewer turns’ going through a city called ‘Bend’ is quite funny tho.”
A final X user drew a circle around what appeared to be a huge turn in the route, despite what Google Maps had advertised it as, adding: “Looking suspiciously like a turn here, perhaps even two.”
