How bad is the NAV, really?

Homer said:

I keep reading on these forums about how bad the Tesla navigation is and I'm wondering how bad it really is. I'm asking this question in the ANZ section as we often get the rougher end of the pineapple compared with the US and Europe.

I have an Italian car with some off-the-shelf navigation system that pretty much sucks. It sometimes doesn't know where I am and offers some bizarre suggestions about how to get to places, particularly in the city. But that's not why people buy that particular car so it's OK. Marge has a Lexus with a pretty incredible navigation system. It's probably not quite as good as, say, using Google or Apple maps, but it knows about traffic snarls, accidents, road closures, etc, and reacts to changes in information and suggests alternate routes while driving. It looks good too.

So, how bad is the Tesla NAV really?

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I don't have any major gripes with the Nav system. I Like:
1). You can search by business/place name rather than needing an address
2). Repeated map/directions in dash display meaning that you don't need to look at main screen
3). Travel time appears to be generally fairly accurate and appears to use traffic feeds from Google in determine routes
4). Generally resets routes fairly quickly if you miss the turn etc
5). When you do view on main screen you can see a lot more of the route in detail and make your own judgement on traffic conditions etc.
6). Being able to enter details using an on-screen keyboard in an intuitive manner rather than using a silly dial thing to select letters one by one
7). Integration with calendar so that you can select an appointment with an address and it drops it straight in to the Nav.
8). Showing official tesla charging sites and any previously visited private charging locations on the map.
9). Being able to turn on the satellite images (as per google maps) helps in identifying locations (particularly if you are not following directions but wanting to say find a sports field).

I don't think it is perfect, but I certainly don't think it is worse than other premium manufacturer offerings I have used.

The nav is awesome. It is Google (on the large display) and Navigon on the drivers panel. Voice recognition is better than any system I have used before. You can search on address or business name - it uses google so it finds everything. You can call points of interest. Addresses from your calendar and your address book are automatically imported. Traffic is integrated and will reroute around accidents. It is the most integrated system I have used.

Now the bad, it is missing fundamental features. Waypoints, multi-route selections, toll and highway preferences, search poi on route, and the supercharger trip routing feature created confusion.

For all the complaints - I think the system is a great base that will continue to improve.

There has been some improvements, it now sends you via the closest supercharger on your route rather than sending you to the closest supercharger that unfortunately happens to be in the opposite direction! We still can't vary the route, add in way points or programme in a stop along the way. There's no fleet learning unfortunately, I travel up the Hume regularly and after nearly a year the navigation still directs me off the Hume through Seymour and then back onto the Hume as it's a few km shorter although obviously a ridiculous route. It also keeps trying to direct me off every toll road and I can't seem to change this, there's certainly no options about whether you want to use or avoid them. Google traffic appears on the main centre display but does not inform the routing.

Homer said:

That must be annoying and doesn't seem right, does it? I feel as though every major road/tunnel/bridge I travel on costs money but if I want to travel on toll roads, then I expect the nav to let me.



So that's not as good as Marge's four-year-old Lexus. I really like this feature. That's a real disappointment for me.

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The difference being that improved performance or new features might appear via a software update on the Tesla tonight, whereas they will either never be available or will be a $600 trip to the dealer for an updated DVD or similar for Marge's Lexus.

TesAus said:

The difference being that improved performance or new features might appear via a software update on the Tesla tonight, whereas they will either never be available or will be a $600 trip to the dealer for an updated DVD or similar for Marge's Lexus.

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I was about to say the same. I think Tesla are stretched pretty thin at the moment preparing for the Model 3, hopefully later this year they can fix software issues like the routing and audio app. Marge's LicksArse will never change.

I am certain that competitors will adopt OTA updates. Countless potential for ongoing improvement and resulting marketing opportunities cannot be ignored.

Re the nav system, only real issues I've seen are the ways it deals with some brand new apparently yet-to-be mapped roads on AP...cruising along at 110 kph only to be jolted forward when cruise control is deactivated and regen takes you down to 70 kph very quickly. Not sure if that's been fixed in 7.1.

WhiteStar said:

I am certain that competitors will adopt OTA updates. Countless potential for ongoing improvement and resulting marketing opportunities cannot be ignored.

Re the nav system, only real issues I've seen are the ways it deals with some brand new apparently yet-to-be mapped roads on AP...cruising along at 110 kph only to be jolted forward when cruise control is deactivated and regen takes you down to 70 kph very quickly. Not sure if that's been fixed in 7.1.

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No - it hasn't been fixed in 7.1. I'm currently talking to Sydney service re this.

No ability to drop in poi's, no display of speed cameras or warnings thereof. No alternate route choice display. No ability to either avoid or include toll roads, and I have probably missed some. Why they needed to reinvent the wheel on this one, heaven knows. They are a car/ battery company. They both could and should have bought an off the shelf system from Garmin or Tom Tom . They are using Navigon which is, I believe, the parent of Garmin, so why they did not go the whole way is anyone's guess. Why use two different systems on the same car? Google and Navigon/ Tesla?

Homer it tries to route me off eery toll road and tries to avoid directing me onto any toll road even if that means a 20km contested route. It prefers a route to my country place that I use less often and it spends half my trip down the alternate route trying to send me out of my way onto its own preferred route, even suggesting that I turn around and drive back 20km. I just ignore it and really only use the routing there to get the projected battery power use. I'd hate to rely on it when Im driving somewhere unfamiliar though although that reluctance applies to some degree to all navigation systems. Its probably not worse, just less flexible

TesAus said:

I don't have any major gripes with the Nav system. I Like:
1). You can search by business/place name rather than needing an address
2). Repeated map/directions in dash display meaning that you don't need to look at main screen
3). Travel time appears to be generally fairly accurate and appears to use traffic feeds from Google in determine routes
4). Generally resets routes fairly quickly if you miss the turn etc
5). When you do view on main screen you can see a lot more of the route in detail and make your own judgement on traffic conditions etc.
6). Being able to enter details using an on-screen keyboard in an intuitive manner rather than using a silly dial thing to select letters one by one
7). Integration with calendar so that you can select an appointment with an address and it drops it straight in to the Nav.
8). Showing official tesla charging sites and any previously visited private charging locations on the map.
9). Being able to turn on the satellite images (as per google maps) helps in identifying locations (particularly if you are not following directions but wanting to say find a sports field).

I don't think it is perfect, but I certainly don't think it is worse than other premium manufacturer offerings I have used.

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I agree with all the above. Not perfect but much better than my wife's Subaru. Perfectly adequate for my needs. One thing I have noticed is that the big screen seems to default to a rather zoomed out overview and when I zoom in it doesn't automatically shift to follow my progress. The dash instructions do obviously keep showing the route.

Last week I was interstate without my tesla nav, using both an inbuilt ford system and a seperate garmin unit.
here is my observations;
1. In my tesla, I simply say "drive to 1 king william street adelaide", and thats it, the nav is set. Alternatively I simply touch the address in my diary or contacts. Those other units wasted so much time putting in where I wanted to go. Tesla have nailed this element.
2. I never found other nav screens small, until my tesla. I missed at least 6 turns each day whilst away from my tesla because the portable navs just didnt give sufficient notice. With the big screen, I can see whats coming, and get to the correct lane with enough time.
3. Navs generally can tend to select strange routes. Last week the garmin u it took me right around the block from my hotel instead of a simple left turn. I would never have fallen for that in the tesla, as I can see all the roads.
Having used my tesla nav, and then being without it for a week, I have no hesitation in saying it's amazing.
I mean who else lets yous say "take me home". Nope, they make you go theough menu's and select home.
No superchargers or tollways in Adelaide, so no comment on that aspect.
Top effort from tesla, and it can only improve, which is incredible.

No poi's, no alternative routes, no speed cameras or warning thereof. No choice of toll roads or otherwise. Other than all that, the system is quite good.

Homer, before I recieved my tesla I started to get really concerned about some of the issues being raised particularly on the tesla forum. It got to the point that I thought I had purchased a lemon.
I don't know what some owners do to their cars, but I'm really thrilled that most of the serious negatives are just wrong. Indeed I suspect tesla loose a lot of sales from it's own forum.

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Dborn said:

No poi's, no alternative routes, no speed cameras or warning thereof. No choice of toll roads or otherwise. Other than all that, the system is quite good.

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Why do you need speed camera warnings?:wink:

I don't like to feed the govt which already overtaxed us, especially if I am only a few km over the limit.tomtom has had this for years.

Dborn said:

I don't like to feed the govt which already overtaxed us, especially if I am only a few km over the limit.tomtom has had this for years.

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indeed, but you do realise they just increase another tax if we all avoid speeding fines, so encourage others to speed to keep your other taxes down.

The nav is horrendous. I regularly go to the airport. Enter Melbourne Airport and it routes you around the back of the airport and directs you onto the runway....

I went up to the dandenongs from the eastern suburbs. It picked an interesting path and I assumed it was one of the lessor known roads. Found out it wanted me to go up a fire track...

From the dandenongs I wanted to go to a local picnic spot. It directed me down a steep road where signs said it was a dead end and last chance to turn around. Got to the end and there was a creek with the next road on the other side of the creek. Zoomed in on the nav and you could see that the road ended, and then the creek. Yet the nav plotted the blue line directly across the creek as if it didn't exist. Maybe it expects you to jump it....

The estimated times on the nav are always ideal times. If I plot a path to my work from home during the morning peak then it'll still say 25 mins, even though at peak it is an hour.

At the end of the day it's easier just to use google maps or waze on your phone. Eventually it'll get patched in an update but for now it is better left alone.