When it comes to Siri, I frequently try to give it the benefit of the doubt and not shy away from making use of it. But today something happened that genuinely alienated me.
Work required me to be on location out of town for two days. The production company got me a fancy Mercedes E class. Lucky me, it supported Apple CarPlay, as Mercedes’ dashboard controls are abysmal. For starters, there are no distinct media controls, neither on the wheel nor anywhere on the console. No Play/Pause, no Skip, only a volume knob on the wheel — no one else but the driver can control sound volume. No touchscreen — in 2020 — yet Mercedes still thinks a jog dial and a touchpad are the best input devices. But I digress.
Back to Siri, since I wanted the full Apple experience in CarPlay, I asked Siri to route me to Berlin — and so it did. I was happy to learn that Apple Maps can be a reliable source for navigation. There’s been a lot of bad-mouthing Apple Maps, especially outside the United States. However, in this case, perhaps because of Berlin being the capital, there’s nothing to complain about — yet.
It was only on my way home — actually, I had reached my home town already — when something very odd struck me. Upon departure, I had asked Siri to take me home. No specific address, just home and Siri correctly picked my address. After a few hours and just a few corners away from my house, Siri still dutifully called out every turn.
That’s when an estranging uncomfortable feeling came over me. This often heard, familiar voice, this supposed personal assistant acts like it doesn’t know anything of me. I felt really really strange. Here’s the thing, how personal is this assistant if it treats my home just like any other unfamiliar destination? Shouldn’t it be aware of the fact, that I’m already in my neighborhood?
Imagine a scenario where once you reach a familiar vicinity of your destination Siri informs you of any potential traffic incidences and asks you if navigation is still required. I bet that’s how it went before in-car-navigation systems. Your passenger giving you directions from a paper map wouldn’t be annoying by telling you to make that last turn into the driveway.
For Apple who prides itself with controlling the whole ecosystem, they most definitely have lots of room to improve upon this. Location services are already used throughout services like reminders, calendar, etc. Apple Maps in combination with Siri should strive for a more personal experience. The only comparison I can draw is to my Volkswagen navigation system, which does know my home address, but it too is tiresome dull about it.