Forcing maps/nav system to use one of two alt. routes

[ecarfan]

My only real annoyance with the current product is that it is very reluctant to interpret a "wrong" turn as the driver's desire to take a different route. It persists in demanding U turns and plotting paths back to the original route for quite a long time before giving up and recalculating.

Interesting, that has not been my experience. I find that if I take a different route than what the nav shows, within about 10 or 15 seconds it adjusts and shows a revised route.

It would be nice for the nav to show a choice of routes and let the user make a selection. And I definitely want it to allow me to pick a destination with my finger instead of having to enter it.

The center screen Google Maps display is 99+% accurate in my experience but I have seen errors in it.

The Tesla nav is far far better than the nav in my wife's 2008 Prius that we sold to buy the S.

 

[PhilBa]

Tesla Nav is state of the art. for 1999. And, yes, it is still better than that POS "DVD Navigator" Toyota put in the Prius (at least, in the 2008, I own one...).

As to alternate routes, TNav is quite willful about getting you back on the "right" route. I try not to bother with it for anything within a few miles of my house as I know the roads far better. Also, it doesn't have a learning component so it never figures out that I take the same route out of my neighborhood every time. (it tries to route me in a very odd and non-intuitive way.)

 

[Madartist]

The current navigation software in the Model S is very basic - no waypoints, no alternate routes, no integration with real-time traffic, no ability to point at a location on the map and setting that as a destination, limited favorites support, ... plus the system is using very old maps (could be at least 3 years old).

I would not characterize the Tesla nav system to be "basic." In fact, it's the best built-in nav system we've ever used in any car. The size of the screening makes it so much easier to use. The current map also displays real time traffic data which alone has saved us many hours of being stuck in traffic. However, it's up to the driver to pick an alternate route. The upcoming v6.0 promises to automate this process by taking traffic data into consideration when planning routes.

 

[gpetti]

And the Google maps on the main display is always up to date. Actually, I've never seen a car system that wasn't out of date. The mapping companies just don't have the resources that Google does. In addition, most of them emphasize points of interest (e.g. businesses that pay to be listed) rather than streets and roads). I've found the Tesla system to be the most useful in-car system I've used. It does need some enhancements like Bob says: waypoints, avoid toll road, avoid highways, bigger fonts, etc. I expect them to come with time. It's already better than it was when I first got the car.

+1
My other car (for now) is an Infiniti QX60 and I have driven various other vehicles with Sat Nav and although there are various features that the Tesla doesn't have, I find that Tesla have focused on the most useful features (IMHO) and I would much rather use my Tesla SatNav than the Infiniti. If it comes to looking for a place of business while driving en route, I don't even bother with the Infiniti unless I can pull over and spend significant time trying to look up the "place". Often with Infiniti I'll google something with my phone and enter the address. With the Tesla - the voice recognition though limited (possibly because its limited) is very accurate and if I say "Navigate to....." it seems to find what I want most of the time. As far as being up-to-date we had significant issues this summer trying to navigate our Infiniti through Vancouver's ever changing streets and the Infiniti service center told us to to look up the map company online and find downloads ourselves. Of course this would also require saving it onto a memory stick and going through an upload process etc. I haven't taken the time to enumerate the reasons why I find the Tesla Nav more practical than other systems I've used (particularly Infiniti) but to summarize I feel that Tesla have invested their development time wisely - in fact I feel this generally about Tesla, the features that it doesn't have are not ones I've really missed or noticed. I enjoy driving the car so much that my overall driving awareness is such that I don't care about blind spot detection, automatic braking or whatever.

 

[PhilBa]

I would not characterize the Tesla nav system to be "basic." In fact, it's the best built-in nav system we've ever used in any car. The size of the screening makes it so much easier to use. The current map also displays real time traffic data which alone has saved us many hours of being stuck in traffic. However, it's up to the driver to pick an alternate route. The upcoming v6.0 promises to automate this process by taking traffic data into consideration when planning routes.

Tesla Nav really is pretty basic for 2014. Try using Google Maps/Nav. 10X better than the Garmin thing in the Tesla. Multiple route options, traffic based routing, hazard alerts.

 

[bob_p]

The functionality of the current navigation software is basic - the user interface and display of routes on Google maps is considerably better than other systems - but the system lacks much functionality that I've had in previous cars.

For example on the real-time traffic navigation - my last Lexus (purchased in late 2006) had integrated real-time traffic. In addition to the traffic flow display the current Tesla software has, it also identified potential traffic restrictions on the route ahead - and offered to automatically re-route around the congestion; when an accident occurred ahead on the route, the software would issue a notification (providing enough time to re-route around the accident). The 2006 Lexus software had features for customizing the routing - such as preferences for tollway or highway usage, and providing multiple routes for each trip - features not currently present for the Model S.

While my old Lexus had more features than the current Model S navigation software - the maps were always out of date because they were updated annually (with already out of date maps) - and those updates typically cost around $250 each - and I don't believe Lexus updated the software after the car manufactured.

Because of the software upgradability and continuous Internet access with frequently updated Google maps, the Tesla navigation software has the potential to be much, much better - if/when Tesla begins distributing updates to this software (which will hopefully be soon...).

 

[JohnQ]

Tesla Nav really is pretty basic for 2014. Try using Google Maps/Nav. 10X better than the Garmin thing in the Tesla. Multiple route options, traffic based routing, hazard alerts.

Much of this is due to Tesla's implementation of the Navigon system. I've had Navigon on my iDevices for quite a few years and it has the ability to enter waypoints, avoid toll roads, avoid highways, use of HOV lanes, integrated traffic, speed threshold alerts, etc. With the Tesla I now rely on a combination of Google traffic and the built in Navigon so don't rely on the iPhone anymore.

Nowadays, though, Google/Waze are free. If Tesla can swing the appropriate licensing and integration then they should simply move in that direction.

 

[Cottonwood]

And the Google maps on the main display is always up to date. Actually, I've never seen a car system that wasn't out of date. The mapping companies just don't have the resources that Google does. In addition, most of them emphasize points of interest (e.g. businesses that pay to be listed) rather than streets and roads). I've found the Tesla system to be the most useful in-car system I've used. It does need some enhancements like Bob says: waypoints, avoid toll road, avoid highways, bigger fonts, etc. I expect them to come with time. It's already better than it was when I first got the car.

This is true as long as you have good cellular coverage. I do a lot of driving outside of cellular coverage and in areas with weak cell service. If the Nav App did a decent job of caching the map data in the area, it would greatly help me using the map outside of cellular coverage areas as well as make the map more responsive in poor coverage areas. The Nav screen has improved its operation in poor cellular coverage areas, but still has a long way to go...

 

[JohnQ]

This is true as long as you have good cellular coverage. I do a lot of driving outside of cellular coverage and in areas with weak cell service. If the Nav App did a decent job of caching the map data in the area, it would greatly help me using the map outside of cellular coverage areas as well as make the map more responsive in poor coverage areas. The Nav screen has improved its operation in poor cellular coverage areas, but still has a long way to go...

A good point, particularly for US owners traveling to Canada where we can't access a data network without setting up a hotspot.

 

[jerry33]

This is true as long as you have good cellular coverage. I do a lot of driving outside of cellular coverage and in areas with weak cell service. If the Nav App did a decent job of caching the map data in the area, it would greatly help me using the map outside of cellular coverage areas as well as make the map more responsive in poor coverage areas. The Nav screen has improved its operation in poor cellular coverage areas, but still has a long way to go...

That's certainly true. There are several places in Kansas where there isn't any coverage. However, it's much better now than it was a year ago.