# Lyft Navigation



## Illini (Mar 14, 2019)

Had a 45+ airport Lyft ride this morning. The in-app Navigation (Google Maps) had me a going a strange route. I opened the Google Maps app, and it had me going the "normal" route. Both ETAs were about the same. Why would Google Maps embedded in the Lyft app give a different route than the stand alone Google Maps app?


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## SurginGeneral (Aug 9, 2017)

I avoid both in-app Navi’s from U/L. We presume that they route us for lower mileage and thus lower payouts.


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## Pax Collector (Feb 18, 2018)

My guess is it probably wasn't, and since traffic conditions tend to fluctuate a lot. It's the same software, the same app.


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## Taksomotor (Mar 19, 2019)

The route calculation is a bit arbitrary. Your time and location changing just slightly might give a different route. Also in the same algorithm there are different preference parameters configure inside the app that calls the algorithm. You dobt see them and cannot change them - it is the app itself that has them preset. So the same Google Maps called by Google directly might set a higher preference on time, while when it is called from Lyft or Uber it could be preset to for preference for miles, or highways, or right turns over left turns, and whatever else.


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## NGOwner (Nov 15, 2016)

I noticed this too. Lyft is now ticking the

Avoid Highways
Avoid Tolls

boxes on Google Maps. After the navigation on Google Maps begins, click the x (lower left side of screen) to see the parameters. Sometimes, if you watch Google Maps load up, you can see the option "toast" appear. That's how I first noticed it after one real odd route.

The bastages.

[NG]Owner


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## Lyftmeister (May 1, 2019)

it's be nice to know what "toast" means. I always figured the apps' navigation options were modified to maximize the fare within reason. Most riders trust Waze more than googlemaps, and I used it until the rideshare apps were "updated" /revised. Now, I have to push a lot more buttons to get Waze to actually show the darn route, whereas it was easy peasy in the past. Yes, I had the option selected to start navigation automatically. What would be helpful is to see alternate routes at beginning, showing ETAs with and without toll roads and express lanes, which seem to be everywhere now in DFW.


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## NGOwner (Nov 15, 2016)

Toast is that little notification that shows up.

In this case, it is a long dark grey horizontal oval bubble that appears shortly in the lower third of the screen indicating which filters are active for the route.

[NG]Owner


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## Lyftmeister (May 1, 2019)

Thanks NG for the reply. I guess I'll have to pay close attention and be on the lookout for the "route filters". Does it appear during the ping or after you've accepted the request, or neither?


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## Wildgoose (Feb 11, 2019)

Illini said:


> Had a 45+ airport Lyft ride this morning. The in-app Navigation (Google Maps) had me a going a strange route. I opened the Google Maps app, and it had me going the "normal" route. Both ETAs were about the same. Why would Google Maps embedded in the Lyft app give a different route than the stand alone Google Maps app?


Route filter of Lyft navigation is built up by lyft and you can not change it. Your google navigation filters was set up by you and you can change it anytime. The difference of route filters between Lyft and your google map will give you different routes anytime.


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## NGOwner (Nov 15, 2016)

Wildgoose said:


> Your google navigation filters was set up by you and you can change it anytime.


Yeah, that's not exactly true for me.

I use Google Maps as my nav of choice. When I press the navigate button in the upper right of the Lyft window after I start their ride to navigate to the customer's destination, Lyft has now figured out a way to tick the Avoid Tolls and Avoid Highways options in Google Maps as the Google Navigation loads, overriding my existing settings. If you watch closely, it is then that the toast appears indicating such.

I have to then stop Google Navigation, uncheck those options, then restart the navigation to get the quickest path from A to B which likely means highway usage (particularly in KC).

This is a new feature (appeared in the past 7 days), and has already happened multiple times to me. I am an Android user; IOS may not permit this kind of skulduggery.

[NG]Owner


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