Who's faster around London: a taxi driver or a GPS?
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN people link it in discussions of taxi drivers' spatial memory and how cabbies handle roadworks and traffic.
What it is
Tom Scott races a London black-cab driver who has memorized The Knowledge against a phone GPS across the city, comparing local expertise to navigation software.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2022 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Recommends rhdunn · 2022-12 · on “The Decline of the City Grid”
There was a recent Tom Scott video ( [this video] ) where he was using a GPS and Tom Hutley (a London cabbie) only relied on his London knowledge to get around, travelling the same distance after reaching certain landmarks. It was interesting to watch.
Recommends phist_mcgee · 2026-08 · on “Taxi drivers rarely die of Alzheimer's”
They also have to remember where roadwork is/was and what kind of traffic is best/worst at a given time. There's a fantastic Tom Scott video on it [this video]
Cites janosch_123 · 2024-10 · on “Ask HN: What are you working on? (October 2024)”
Sure, Tom Scott drives it in this (he doesn't talk about it being electric): [this video] Here is a review: [LINK] Here is all the media: [LINK] My video tutorials are linked above.