Even when I know the route like the back of my hand I still use GPS. Why? Because if there's any variation in the route, such as due to construction or a parade, I'm no longer 100% sure of how to get where I'm going, and a driver that doesn't know where they're going in is one of the more dangerous things on the road IMO.

The trick is zooming out to get an overview. In old days we looked at a map and had and overview- I'll go north a bit and then turn west at a junction or landmark. Now it's all zoomed in- you go straight for 3 miles and turn right with no idea where you are relative to other things.

Stop depending on sat nav for directions and just use it for traffic updates. As you drive look for interesting things to remember (an old brick building, a new playground, a fuel station,etc). Commit those to memory.

Did these maps also show live traffic predictions?

If you drive to the same place 5 times with satnav and don't learn the route, I'd say that's on you mate.

With satnav, you can multitask more, just blindly follow the directions and get there while you're having a debate with the wife over where to go for dinner tomorrow night and who's going to watch the kids while the plumber fixes the bathroom sink...

Without satnav, you actually had to pay attention to the landmarks, street signs, etc. to get to your destination with your A-Z, your brain was forced to be engaged with navigation or you'd never get there.

There's no reason you can't still keep your brain engaged with navigation whilst driving to a new / unfamiliar place, other than your choice to not do it. Your submission to social pressure to engage in other things. Your acceptance of ridiculously complex backroads routes that you'd never attempt with an A-Z.

Here Up Over in Yankland, I use the GPS phone map navigation apps for several reasons: they give traffic updates near realtime and can route me around backups that develop after I set out, while I can generally get close to a new place, the final turns can be tricky especially downtown with the one-ways so I'll let the damn thing prattle on through the 98% of the route that I could do in my sleep just to get that final endpoint guidance because it's too fiddly to engage it while already en-route - sometimes I'll turn the volume far down until we get close, but that defeats the traffic jam detection. Sometimes the app will alert for police activity ahead, rarely - but sometimes - it's an actual early warning for a speed trap. And, those "avoid highways" back country routes, the ones with 47 turns where you could get there using the interstate with 5 turns... yeah, those are fun - and I do usually have the route memorized after about 5 runs through the same route, but they're also highly subject to reroute to avoid traffic congestion so you might drive it 10 times and never use the same routing even 3 times.

Personal skill issue. Nothing to do with ai

I think this is a neurodiversity thing. Different people find different things challenging, and I've noticed within my circle of friends that navigational ability varies wildly. I would find it unlikely that I'd have trouble finding somewhere I went using satnav once, but I could also see someone else using it several times without it teaching them the route.

I imagine that in the same way some people will use AI and have it be a learning experience, while for others it will be a crutch.

It might be more of a problem for people who grow up with it though; less of them may find the need to develop the underlying skills.

I don't use satnav. I get a map route and use it as general guide of where to go. I use llms much but honestly mostly to evaluate their capabilities to see if they will start being useful to use. Of course I don't really use smartphones either. From what people are saying I kinda wonder if there are folks on llms all the time on their phone.

After several trips, I start remembering the route. I still use navigation for alternate routes because of unpredictable traffic, but if I drive a route using navigation enough times, I eventually memorize it.

Also, satnav is deterministic, it will get you to your destination accurately. AI is non-deterministic, it will guess the best way to your destination.

Can someone please explain what this is saying? What is an A-Z?

Do you not remember the exits and landmarks you pass by?

Kinda seems like a you problem.

Not to say generative AI isn't trash, just don't slander my GNSS units like that.

After that many times you don't remember?

I use sat nav to places I know how to get to all the time because google/apple know what roads are closed or have an accident, and I don't.

I always check the route first because sat navs are stupid. So yeah, I remember the route after a while.

What is an A-Z? I gather you mean some sort of map, but I don't know the reference.

Is Satnav an Aussie term? I only know it from Bluey.

And I use GPS (what we Americans call it, even though that's technically incorrect) for routes I'm well familiar with, mostly because of either traffic awareness or finding a new scenic route.

What it doesn't know is the driving habits of others.

I don't usually drive into work anymore, but my job is in Cambridge MA. For those not familiar with the area, there are two ways in from points south on the highways....tunnel, or pike.

My decision of which way to go comes down to how much traffic I expect at the exit.

If I go Pike, I have to deal with a shitty lane shift at the offramp that nobody executes properly and I always end up nearly getting fender-checked every time.

If I go tunnel, it's like...three consecutive exits that have to be taken. Like you get off the exit, then a sub-exit, then another sub-exit. Between exits one and two you have to get over a lane...except that lane is always backed up past where the first exit merges with it. So you have to be an asshole and speed past all of them and stop somewhere in the middle when you see a good enough gap...or you have to stop at the exit and get in the middle of the line. Either way you have to be a huge asshole to get where you need to go.

I use GPS to find different routes, or help me work around problems.

If anything it's helped me understand an area better.

I think there's quite a big difference between operating the car yourself based on GPS instructions and letting an LLM write your code, if that's what you mean. The equivalent would be asking the model only what to do, and then coding yourself based on its instructions.