I’m Not A Jerk, It’s the Tech

The other day, I was driving towards downtown on the Don Valley Parkway as it passed over the 401. I typically run Waze “just in case” when I noticed something strange. Waze was directing me to take the exit off towards the 401. Hmm… maybe there was some traffic or accident I didn’t know about?

I zoomed out only to see that it actually wanted me to continue through the exit lane and re-merge back on the highway.

That is a total jerk move.

There wasn’t any traffic. There wasn’t an accident to drive around. Everything was moving smoothly. No! It wanted me to veer through three lanes, merge with incoming traffic, and then back again onto the highway.

There is a risk of technology and following it blindly. If the car was autonomous, it would have likely followed that route as well, actually increasing the likelihood of an accident.

We’re encounter more of these types of instances. Whether it’s Waze, Google autocomplete, canned responses, Facebook birthday wish suggestions… we might have to monitor how we’re being represented.