Who's faster around London: a taxi driver or a GPS? 

Full marks to the production team both for the routing, and for the costumes. ■ AD: 👨‍💻 NordVPN's best deal is here: nordvpn.com/tomscottplus - with a 30-day money-back guarantee! ■ And thanks to Clipper Cab www.clipper.cab/ for providing the electric-converted TX4, which was one of their two prototypes!

I work as a Google engineer in London. I'm not sure if Tom would have been aware of the irony that when his GPS was stuck on re-routing he was literally outside the window of the Google engineering office in London.

"I'm required to follow all traffic laws" and "I'm allowed to drive like I normally would in London" sound like 2 mutually exclusive goals.

Tom #1: "It's not a race, it's not a race ... I wonder how Tom does this every day" Tom #2: "Drive, drive, drive your cab gently down the road ... Merrily, merrily, merrily ... obey the highway code" Best cut of this video, no contest xD

Legend has it, the founder of a Dutch company had a lucid dream in 1990 of two drivers named Tom, driving around London. In that dream real-time computer-generated directions were equivalent to the competence of a well-trained cab driver. That company was TomTom.

I loved the difference in temperament between the two Toms. Taxi Tom was pleasant and relaxed, while Tom Scott was like: “We’re here. Get out.” 😂

22:16 That cut killed me. "I don't know how Tom does it for hours and hours!" "Drive, drive, drive your car, gently down the road! Merrily, merrily, merrily, obey the highway code."

It was really interesting to see how cautious Tom (the taxi driver) was when the customer was leaving the cab, constantly checking his mirrors and blind spots for hazards while they reach the curb. Awesome stuff!

Today I learned that it takes more training to get your London taxi drivers license than it takes to become a police officer in the United States...Fantastic video, terrifying realization though.

Tom Scott's mission to collab with every other Tom on RU-vid is a go.

Had so much fun with you and the team Tom, thank you 🙏🏻 And for those wondering, yes the result really was as close as the edit makes out 😱

Kirsten and Han were absolute joys in the episode, really hope they are both in more content!!!

A big part of why Tom the Taxi Driver "won" is the extra time it takes for Tom to research where Einstein lived, etc. A cabbie knows even when the passenger doesn't quite know where they need to go.

It's poetic that a video involving one following a GPS has TomTom as the drivers.

I love how Tom inherits a cabbies disdain for other road users immediately upon getting into the cab.

While Team GPS lost, I think this is actually a testament to how good GPS is. A trained professional driver was barely able to win against it. I see so many people ignore GPS directions because they think they know better. But the GPS has so much data.

It would be interesting having a third Tom on a bike or using public transport, not having to deal with traffic jams

‘He has a good understanding of London, through sheer osmosis’ 😂 I like this guy he’s so humble and funny

"Tom VS Tom" could easily be an entire show. This absolutely felt like it, more so than just a one off thing. The difference in attitudes between the two was perfect.

19:25 loved the instiinctive meter reach 😂

For those too lazy to watch till the end: Tom wins.

Scott trying to convince himself that it isn’t a competition, test or race is so delightful to watch.

Love how tense Tom is, while Tom is driving so casually

London cabbie drivers are amazing. The training they go through is extraordinarily rigorous. They train by riding around on bicycles and a map secured on the handle bars. Literally they know London like the back of their hands. They have to memorize all the roads, routes, places. If you want to know what's interesting to see, best night clubs, shopping... ask a cabbie. Can say for certain in this video, the cabbie was calm and collected. No stress.

The producers were so awesome with keeping the rides fun. Massive props to them both!

As someone who previously had two guys named Tom as roommates, I understand the confusion, production team. Congratulations on Tom on winning this one. Tom, hope you do better next time.

I took a London cab where the driver refused to take payment because he was disappointed he missed a turn he wanted to take. It added 30 seconds to our trip. I tried very hard to pay him and he literally threw my money out of the cab at me and drove off. World class

I love how Tom Scott was like "This isn't a race. This isn't a race." While Taxi Tom is like "I AM GOING TO WIN."

What i was amazed by is the fact that the passenger could say Jimmy Hendrix house and Tom the cap driver just knew where that was. You might know streets and such, but its really important to know landmarks and stuff on those streets, cause tourists coming into town wont know the streets, they will just say stuff like Jimmy Hendrix house. And so its incredible that Tom the cap driver can remember all these details and how to get there the fastest way.

An unexpected crossover. Glad to see Tom (taxi Tom) get this deserved exposure.

2:32 "I'm required to follow all traffic laws. I'm required to follow the speed limit..." - I was totally ready for him to say "the actual taxi has to do none of that". Because, out of experience, they just don't.

I recently saw a documentary on people studying for The Knowledge and going through the exams. Amazing how motivated and skilled these cabbies are. Mad respect!

The editing is unbelievably perfect! The cuts are seamless between the two of them; it's almost as if they're answering each other's questions.

many years ago in the late 90s or early 00s, on the BBC program "So You Think You're A Good Driver?" they did basically exactly this as a piece - except it was Taxi Driver verses a driver and navigator using just the London A to Z. The navigator in the "map car" was my dad, who at the time was president of the British Cartographic Association. He did not and had never lived in London, yet the map car beat the taxi driver handily. Both cars actually did the same route for that show, and the map car had the lead for most of it. They even managed it quicker than the camera car on one leg.

Don't know why, but I was rooting for the cab driver from the very start. He seems to love his job and spend a decent amount of time getting good at it. I would hate to see these kind of professionals be overtaken by technology.

One thing I appreciate about Tom Scott is that he knows enough about VPNs that he doesn't just read off a sheet filled with lies like other RU-vidrs do when they are sponsored by VPNs

I enjoy that the character wearing a tiara was simply labeled "rich" while the one in the hat was "royalty"

This was a lot of fun! Love that the prompts weren’t just the locations directly but showcased the strength of the Knowledge, familiarity with place and culture. Some destinations just have only one main route and if you’re stuck in traffic then you’re stuck in traffic but it’s the convenience not having the driver fumble with the gps that makes the difference. Hope Tom does this again but versus the TfL network, or comparing different apps (though that one might be hard to sponsor).

And here I was feeling quite competent being able to find my way around the urban outskirts without a map. This guy memorized an ENTIRE DAMN CITY.

I love how the cations switched to a serif font for the posh english. Noone I watch has captions as good as Tom Scott's Channels. Big props to @caption_plus!

8:56 Love how the subtitles are in serif when she's talking fancy.

I love how much fun the producers are having in this one

never expected tom to win, I had thought that tom surely would have won

"Am I in the right lane?" No sir, you are in the left lane

I would have liked TomtheTaxiDriver to have been given Tom Scott's destinations to talk through the route for at the end. See if they are the same as GPS or what differences he might take and if he could call where Tom (Scott) encountered traffic and not if then told the way he actually went.

Excited to see someone do a colab with Tom the taxi driver, watched a couple of his videos before, his knowledge and cabbie life is fascinating

This was delightful. The costumes were incredible, Taxi Tom was so fun. I'm sure it wouldn't even be close if he had live traffic data as well as his knowledge.

One of the things I like more about Tom's content is that he always show the passion that the protagonists of their videos have for their work

I cannot believe i just found out tom scott had long format videos now. I aways watch the other channel wishing it was like half an hour long

I appreciate that your producers also get to enjoy their time infront of the camera more and more, they're wonderful!

The improvs were a real bonus for the video, it made everything much more entertaining.

As a london Cabbie I had passengers ask why I had sat nav? It’s a tool to help like having an A-Z in the cab. my brain usually kicked in faster than the sat nav to get the general direction . And if it’s two in the morning and your passenger is tipsy and want to head far out of london to Essex for example the sat nav is going to be a life saver so he can get forty winks and I can drive in peace with the knowledge that the navi is heading in the right direction,

Awesome to see you getting Tom on - I've been subbed to him for a good while now and his videos are fantastic. The more people who see him and his content the better! He's a tip-top lad.

The cyclist blowing a kiss to the camera was brilliant

This was so much fun!! I had no idea "The Knowledge" was a thing. (Kinda wish they did that in more places... I'm a reference librarian, and I've had cab drivers come in for directions at least three times when they couldn't find a pickup address in our neighborhood.) I've only been to London once in my life, but the cab drivers who helped us there were uniformly welcoming and pleasant and happy to point out the sights to a newcomer (and now I know why they knew them all!)

Tom Taxi: "I hope Tom is having a good time." Tom Scott: "FFFFUUU...." 🤣🤣🤣🤣

8:51 I like how the subtitles change to a serif font for the posh voice :D

This has the old Tom Scott's videos vibes, it makes me remember that one video where Tom and Matt had to appear in as many TV news shots as possible

London cabbies' knowledge is just crazy to me. So impressive. 🤯

I love seeing more of the Tom Scott team, they seem like such a good bunch.

This was fabulous! Hats off to both Toms and the production team! I loved the costumes and the accents. They were a wonderful touch!

Great to see Tom with Tom, I've been watching Tom for a few years now but only discovered Tom roughly 18 months ago. I'm glad this video now exists with them both.

Once again Tom Scott making me curious about a topic I had never once considered in my entire life.

22:21 Brilliant cut right there. That was fun

Amazing collaboration between two great and inspiring people! Keep up the good content!

I think not just did the taxi win, he was so relaxed whereas using the sat nav looked so stressful

It would have been very interesting to see how much Tom the Taxi Driver's route was different from what Google would have suggested

TomTheTaxiDriver: (Utmost confidence) It's on Brook Street Tom Scott: Am I in the right lane? Am I in the right lane? Am I in the right lane?

It would have been interesting to see the taxi fare if they'd both been started at the same time too. Would GPS or The Knowledge be better value for money?

The chemistry between Kirsten and Taxi Tom is contagious ❤️

I like how this 'who's the best Tom' series is working out

I used to work on multiple building sites round London and I got really good eventually with lots of practice. I was once sent from Mayfair to Chigwell. Stopped in Essex when I thought I was close, I was less than a mile from the address, on a motorbike back in 2000 before smartphones, I had an A to Z in my jacket. Great test, today I have Maps on most of the time and sometimes spot the false fastest route. Check arrival time before diving off route then check arrival time again, its quite often sooner

I'm not someone who generally needs subtitles, but I want to shoutout the amazing work that the subtitle team that works on these videos does. Best subtitles in youtube. The minor touches and attention to detail bring these from good to great.

I delivered pizza for years, and everytime I transferred to a new area, I used GPS to learn the area. After a couple months, I'd slowly ween myself off GPS. My delivery times consistently got significantly faster when I was no longer using GPS.

I am fairly sure at this point that Tom is basing these collaborations on my RU-vid subscriptions. If GeoWizard appears in the next Tom Scott Plus then he definitely is...

As much as I like Tom Scott, I was really hoping for Tom the taxicab driver to win this! I've always wondered if human route knowledge can beat the algorithms and it is good to see a human prevail.

Great video Tom, one of your best. Can you do more videos like this one? I was actually surprised at how efficient the GPS was.

Very impressed with Taxi Tom. And with the route planner for being so accurate in the planning stage.

Always find it funny when two channels I watch (that I think are obscure in themselves) do a collaboration! Great to see taxi driver tom getting the exposure he deserves

I want to see a part 2 of this: Tom and Tom in a cab, vs Geoff Marshall trying to get to certain locations.

I’ve got to say, the Tom Scott Plus channel is an amazing experiment and it just keeps bringing joy! Long may it continue :)

"The Knowledge" is one of the hardest exams to take, much respect to Tom for passing it.

You're right, Tom, about it being tiring driving in central London. I used to drive for a god awful firm picking up student's & nurse's tea chests of tat to be shipped back to Australia, S. Africa ect. by sea whilst they flew. Between 20 & 30 pick ups inside the M25 &I had a 30 minute window to get to them and this meant that they always had a flight to catch. So any hold-up, accident, traffic, road works etc. could stuff your day up so very easily. I'd be getting calls from my boss saying "Where the hell are you?" and also from the customer yelling "I've got a bloody plane to catch!". The pressure was just too much! My route was put together the night before in a mythical London with no traffic or delays. Also, this was just before sat-nav was commonplace & I had the Master Atlas of Greater London on my lap all day! I just hit a brick wall after a while. White van manning can be a thankless task. No tachograph either in 3.5 tonners so 16 hour days weren't uncommon. Edit: There's another collaboration video to be had with Taxi Tom. London cabbie's brains change as they learn "The Knowledge". Their hippocampus in their brains grows! It's the area of the brain that controls navigation & spatial awareness & it'd be interesting to see what the current research is related to the plasticity of our brains when confronted with such herculean learning tasks!

Love you as always for your top tier quality captions!

I'd love to see something like this involving more methods of transport - comparison of cab, car, tube, walking, boat, bike etc.

Back in the day, I used to have a TomTom GPS. I used to call the male English voice I used (I'm an ex-pat Brit living in the US) and then, by extension, the GPS unit, itself, "Tom". Tom was stolen out of my car. I would like to dedicate my watching of this video to Tom(Tom)'s memory.

Car spotting time! * 6:27 Bentley Continental GT 8:20 Maybach sedan 10:35 Rolls-Royce Cullinan 13:18 bike guy 16:25 Rolls-Royce Phantom probably some I've missed earlier on from being distracted

What a lovely surprise! I love Tom the taxi driver’s channel, he has got quite unique content

Need to see the producers in more future videos! They are so fun and lovely

This is a great testament to how technology can make someone with no experience 99% as good as someone who had to spend years studying to acquire a skill

Serif fonts for the posh voice in the captions was GREAT.

This episode is really a gem not only because of the competition aspect, but for a non native speaker it's full of idioms and phrases which help to improve understanding and speaking fluent English. I enjoyed the conversation (as well as the lovely girls 🥰). Well done! 👍

Love the collabs you've been doing recently.

"Could be worse - the meter could be running!" Witty smalltalk on point, you just know this guy makes bank in tips.

"oh, sorry, I should do that in my posh woman's voice" *_Close Captions switch from Arial to Times New Roman_* "Please, peasant, when are we arriving at my next location?" Always turn on closed captions on a Tom Scott (plus) video 😂 Edit: It could be from any sans-serif font to any serif font I probably wouldn't know the difference, font fans, don't kill me 😂

Taxi Tom was great ♥ Love how he was aware of road works on certain streets too.

That shows the difference between them here well. They might arrive at about the same time here, but Taxi Tom is sooo much more relaxed. You don't just have to be good, you have to be able to do a job for a whole day. And again the next day, etc, etc.

Tom Scott constantly having to talk himself into not being too competitive is such a mood XD

I absolutely adore the caption team. The posh captions being in Times New Roman completely caught me off guard

The Knowledge absolutely fascinates me. I’m a big maps and directions guy really geared toward the spatial stuff and this seems like the Holy Grail to me. It inspired me so much that I began to do the same thing in Philadelphia on my bike, learning every tiny little street and landmark as well as I could. Philly is vastly smaller, less dense, and less labyrinthine than London, but still presents what seems like an impossible task. Extreme respect for the achievement of these cabbies.