Crypto News: How London's taxi drivers outperform AI

Artificial intelligence may be no match for the navigational skills of London's taxi drivers, who spend years memorizing the city's more than 26,000 streets and whose brains have been shown to have larger-than-average memory centers. A new study looking at how cabbies plan their routes suggests that the human navigators are more strategic than GPS-enable navigation apps when it comes to calculating routes.

An app might run through hundreds, even millions, of possible routes to calculate the optimal course, a process that often relies on energy-intensive data centers. Cabbies, on the other hand, are able to narrow the search process by focusing on streets and intersections they'll likely encounter. Researchers tell me that the findings could help train AI algorithms to work smarter — not harder. Read more today on CityLab: How London's Taxi Drivers Navigate the City Without GPS

— Linda Poon

More on CityLab

What Can Cities Do to Protect Public Spaces From Vehicle Attacks?
The Bourbon Street truck attack in New Orleans has focused fresh attention on an old problem: making pedestrian zones safe from vehicular mayhem.

Trump Administration Sues Chicago Over Sanctuary City Policy
The first such case by Attorney General Pam Bondi challenges local policies on immigration enforcement.

NYC Sees Pedestrian Traffic Increase in Congestion-Pricing Zone
New data suggest the toll has so far not deterred residents and visitors from going into Midtown and lower Manhattan.

Inside the LA Fire Cleanup's Rush to Remove Tons of Toxic Rubble
The Trump administration is trying to complete a hazardous cleanup effort in a third of the time required for the previous, much smaller urban wildfire in the US.

What we're reading

Gazans don't need a riviera. They need water (Atlantic)
A mail carrier lost everything in the Eaton Fire. Along his route, people are rallying for him (LAist)
Texas school district warns Border Patrol may board buses and question students about citizenship (Texas Tribune)
ICE has restaurant workers terrified (Grub Street)
Johannesburg revival: Bringing hope to one of world's most dangerous cities (BBC)