Taxi drivers taking the long way to your destination in order to drive up the fare is one of the oldest scams in the book. Sure, you may be able to catch them in the act when you’re in your own city, but not when you’re visiting someplace you’ve never been before. So it’s always a good idea to have your route mapped out in Google Maps even when you’re in the back. Google recognizes that this is useful for people and it’s now offering to notify users through Maps when their ride goes off-route.
Google Maps will track the route in the background and warn the user if their cab goes off-route. This may save them money or crucially when the driver’s intentions are more nefarious than just driving up the fare, even keep them safe.
To use this feature, just look up the directions to your destination on Google Maps as you would. Use the Stay safer button present in the bottom menu to enable off-route alerts. Maps will then alert the user if the driver diverts from the route by 0.31 miles or 500 meters.
This will serve as a reminder for them to see whether that detour really was to avoid traffic or something else entirely. Reports suggest that this feature has first gone live in India. It’s possible that Google may soon roll it out in other markets as well.
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