Someone is developing an algorithm that finds not the shortest, or quickest, or cheapest route, but the most scenic. But what I want, having been burned twice in the last month by LA traffic construction, is one that lets you rule out routes. “Siri. The 5 North is closed. Find a way to get me back on it north of the 22. That doesn’t involve driving on the 5.”
Yes, the maps algorithms let you choose alternate routes, but the alternates are very limited, and there are lots of places where there is one freeway, and Google or Apple or Waze or Mapquest or whoever is going to route you on that, no matter what you do. And if it’s closed, well, too bad for you. As you drive around, pulling out your two-decade old copy of the Thomas Guide, Siri will just be telling you to make a series of u-turns to get onto entrances that are blocked.