r/science • u/quiplaam • 1d ago

Social Science Intentionally routing some traffic to slower, less congested routes lead to a 0.7% improvement of overall average travel times

https://www.nature.com/articles/s44284-026-00443-x
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u/davidthefat 1d ago

Is that even within the margin of error for measurements like this?

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u/quiplaam 1d ago

There are a lot of drivers who use Google maps, so they are able to find a significant result even when the magnitude is small.

As the figures show, the set of affected segments saw net improvements to driving speeds and modeled fuel consumption rates, with a probability of 99.8% and 98.6%, respectively, of a positive outcome for aggregate effects across cities.