I'm not going to contest your experience because my experience with uber in the city was for tourism/getting home after a night of partying, not work. In my experience uber drivers took my word over the GPS every single time when I gave directions. I know that the driver can affect my rating like I can theirs so its in all our best interest to have a good ride.
>> "drivers took my word over the GPS every single time when I gave directions"
So wouldn't a driver knowledgable of the city streets that you don't ever have to give directions to be better?
I use Uber all the time but I find that regular taxi drivers are better in traffic as they tend to know ways around it the GPS doesn't provide. I also regularly get GPS focussed drivers taking 1 turn too early and driving in a circle to get back to where they started to make the correct turn (twice this week already). I still prefer Uber overall but dismissal of street knowledge because GPS is 'better/more accurate' doesn't gel with my experience at all.
It'll be super funny when self-driving cars are seen following the at-times-ridiculous GPS directions. For the foreseeable future, I wouldn't want to be in a car without a steering wheel.
GPS directions are only ever ridiculous due to a lack of information. In many cities (Sydney Australia, for example) data is good enough and the roads straightforward enough that chosen routes are always either ideal or sufficiently close to ideal.
