99 Tunnel in Seattle

[rpo]

This has become a bit of a joke between my wife and I since the tunnel opened three months ago, but how long will it take Tesla to update their maps to show it exists? I assumed it would get updated as fast as Google Maps (one day after it opened), but three months later, it still routes me on the old viaduct that closed 3.5 months ago or on surface streets which would add 30-60 minutes onto the drive.

I don't know if there is precedent for anything similar elsewhere in the country, but routing through downtown Seattle is highly inaccurate until it gets fixed!

 

[ChadS]

I have a super easy fix for this. No driving through downtown Seattle.

Yeah, it sure sucks for those that can't avoid it though. Like most things Tesla, they will fix it; but nobody has any idea when...

 

[RobertSeattle]

Hey Tesla, dare you to run your self driving demo from White Center to Magnolia.

 

[im.thatoneguy]

What's funny is that they do use the Google traffic data for the tunnel. And the actual map itself even renders it correctly! But the routing map is apparently different from the rendered map.

 

[AndyMc]

I sent support a few emails about a month ago detailing the new on/off ramps and other details. About two weeks ago I received the following:

"I'm reaching out to you to inform you that engineering is aware of this new tunnel and we are working on updating our databases.

No ETA has been given. "

 

[ChadS]

Similar story for Redmond Way in downtown Redmond. It was one-way for many years, but they changed it back to two-way...what, a year or more ago? My car keeps routing me a block over.

 

[RobertSeattle]

There is a bridge on WA9 a few miles north of Arlington that has been in use for several years now and the mapping program continues to "use" the old bridge. Wish they could use the neural network to update the maps.

 

[im.thatoneguy]

"I'm reaching out to you to inform you that engineering is aware of this new tunnel and we are working on updating our databases.

What's frustrating about this is that it apparently takes so much effort to update a map. It took hardly any time for OSM to add the new routes and set the flag as permanently closed on the old highway. What sort of terrible backward system are they running that it requires actual "work" on their part to update it?

Same with speed limits. I updated my entire commute's OSM speed limit data in like 15 minutes. And Seattle has a public dataset for the entire speed limits of city limits. If Tesla could write a small ESRI data importer they would handle a substantial amount of Tesla customers indefinitely, probably for multiple cities who use ESRI's GIS software.

 

[ChrisH]

So much for free map updates lol

 

[wenkan]

Just downloaded a huge navigation update after got 12.1.1 firmware. However the tunnel still not there. Ridiculous.

 

[rpo]

Just downloaded a huge navigation update after got 12.1.1 firmware. However the tunnel still not there. Ridiculous.

I noticed the same thing last night.

 

[im.thatoneguy]

On the bright side, it seems to finally have correct speed limits for way more of Seattle. 8 months of having to crank down as fast as possible on the speed dial every time I engaged AP in front of my office has finally come to an end!

 

[RobertSeattle]

I just noticed Bing Maps still has the viaduct as well. One would think given they are headquartered here...

 

[im.thatoneguy]

Something is just funky with Bing at the moment. Northbound works, just south bound doesn't.

 

[PLUS EV]

It amazes me how often people obsess over how soon maps get updated.

 

[RobertSeattle]

It amazes me how often people obsess over how soon maps get updated.

It is hard to believe Tesla can pull off sell driving cars without really up to date maps. It is my understanding that Google Maps had the 99 Tunnel in their maps the day it opened for traffic.

 

[wenkan]

It is hard to believe Tesla can pull off sell driving cars without really up to date maps. It is my understanding that Google Maps had the 99 Tunnel in their maps the day it opened for traffic.

Musk would use his first rule like this: “When you driving on the road, you navigate by reading the signs. You don’t receive gps signal in your brain.”

 

[EarlyAdopter]

While the map data displayed in the center console streams in live from Google, the maps used for navigation are locally downloaded and built by a navigation company (Navigon I believe).

Tesla has to work with that third party to update the nav data and then push an update down to the fleet. These map files are very large. Hundreds of MB.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

While the map data displayed in the center console streams in live from Google, the maps used for navigation are locally downloaded and built by a navigation company (Navigon I believe).

Tesla has to work with that third party to update the nav data and then push an update down to the fleet. These map files are very large. Hundreds of MB.

One minor correction - it looks like Tesla switched navigation map providers to MapBox in 2017. The point still stands though on needing to wait for an update from Mapbox on the underlying map data and then Tesla downloading it to the fleet.

Oh, and if you're wondering why you occasionally get different routing using the car's navigation vs. what you see in Google Maps or Waze on your phone, it's because Tesla is using a different routing engine in the car, Vahalla.

The plus side on this means you can still get navigation in areas with no cell coverage. The nav can operate entirely offline.

 

[PLUS EV]

One minor correction - it looks like Tesla switched navigation map providers to MapBox in 2017. The point still stands though on needing to wait for an update from Mapbox on the underlying map data and then Tesla downloading it to the fleet.

Oh, and if you're wondering why you occasionally get different routing using the car's navigation vs. what you see in Google Maps or Waze on your phone, it's because Tesla is using a different routing engine in the car, Vahalla.

The plus side on this means you can still get navigation in areas with no cell coverage. The nav can operate entirely offline.

Yes, but when it operates offline, it isn't using and traffic data. Also Tesla routing has improved over my 2.5 years of ownership but is still worse than google maps. The times are hopelessly optimistic during high traffic.