GPS issue since the past few weeks

[MWhy]

Turning off the camera in the cabin is a potential band-aid. I sort of doubt that they turn it off 100% of the time. My guess is they look at the GPS DOP and when the signal is low and most susceptible to camera radiated interference they turn it off. At least that would be my approach if I had access to the DOP information. I can try covering the cabin camera and see if FSD decides to kick me out but that would not prove 100% camera off (it could just be coincidental) and I could get an FSD strike.

 

[Koolio46]

Agree with the software doing a check to determine if cabin camera should be on/off.

When they fixed my GPS drift issue, I couldn’t get the ‘pay attention to the road’ nag to appear when I was looking at the center screen. Now, with FSD 10.69.2.2, it will appear if I’m looking at the screen long enough.

 

[Freewil]

Agree with the software doing a check to determine if cabin camera should be on/off.

When they fixed my GPS drift issue, I couldn’t get the ‘pay attention to the road’ nag to appear when I was looking at the center screen. Now, with FSD 10.69.2.2, it will appear if I’m looking at the screen long enough.

I wish I could say the same. I do not have FSD, but any software changes are making no difference for me. GPS shows my car driving over the river and through the woods regardless of auto pilot or navigation being engaged. Just a crazy thought, but my car seems to frequently have this problem when I am in the area of a local TV station’s broadcast antenna.

 

[MWhy]

I wish I could say the same. I do not have FSD, but any software changes are making no difference for me. GPS shows my car driving over the river and through the woods regardless of auto pilot or navigation being engaged. Just a crazy thought, but my car seems to frequently have this problem when I am in the area of a local TV station’s broadcast antenna.

Interesting observation. GPS operates at 1.5GHz and there is no broadcast TV or radio near that frequency in the U.S. So it is unlikely unless you are very close to the tower and there is what is called intermodulation that places a harmonic frequency near 1.5GHz. What I did was use a GPS app on my phone to watch the DOP values from the GPS signal. What I found is that generally my car traveled over the river and through the woods when the DOP was significant. I also tended to notice when the car was hottest (afternoon after being parked) it was also likely to happen. As temperatures have tended to cool (a relative term in Florida) the occurrence rate dropped. But, as I mentioned in my earlier post, since the latest FSD release I have not seen it. I hope Tesla rolls this fix/bandaid back into regular releases once they see it helps the FSD drivers.

 

[Freewil]

Interesting observation. GPS operates at 1.5GHz and there is no broadcast TV or radio near that frequency in the U.S. So it is unlikely unless you are very close to the tower and there is what is called intermodulation that places a harmonic frequency near 1.5GHz. What I did was use a GPS app on my phone to watch the DOP values from the GPS signal. What I found is that generally my car traveled over the river and through the woods when the DOP was significant. I also tended to notice when the car was hottest (afternoon after being parked) it was also likely to happen. As temperatures have tended to cool (a relative term in Florida) the occurrence rate dropped. But, as I mentioned in my earlier post, since the latest FSD release I have not seen it. I hope Tesla rolls this fix/bandaid back into regular releases once they see it helps the FSD drivers.

The highway is probably about 100 -150 yards from the antenna. Tesla GPS doesn’t always have issues there, but it does seem to be a recurring problem spot. What phone app are you using to get DOP info? I still don’t understand why it seems to be just me here in Burlington, VT. I know many people with Teslas and none have similar problems.

 

[MWhy]

The highway is probably about 100 -150 yards from the antenna. Tesla GPS doesn’t always have issues there, but it does seem to be a recurring problem spot. What phone app are you using to get DOP info? I still don’t understand why it seems to be just me here in Burlington, VT. I know many people with Teslas and none have similar problems.

I have an iPhone and am using the GPS Plan app. There are similar ones for Android. There are several screens but the one I'm talking about is a multi-colored line graph that list PDOP, HDOP, VDOP and TDOP which all show different aspects of the measure of precision.

 

[MWhy]

Its been almost a week and a half since receiving FSD 10.69.2.2 (2022.20.17) and I have not had a single GPS issue. Normally. I'd have 3 or 4 per day.

I think Gigaron is correct that the cabin camera is off. I have tried briefly covering the lens and looking down at my phone many times and found FSD does not warn me about bad driving behavior. Fear not, my wife was watching the road from the passenger seat when I tried this. I try to be very engaged while using FSD so having the cabin camera off is OK as a personal matter but for the fleet I hope this only temporary as not everyone is engaged at all times. I don't mind my car helping me be safe at all times.

 

[MWhy]

I received FSD 10.69.2.3 this morning and the GPS issue remains "solved". What I mean by "solved" is that GPS tracking is accurate.

 

[Koolio46]

I received FSD 10.69.2.3 this morning and the GPS issue remains "solved". What I mean by "solved" is that GPS tracking is accurate.

I also got 10.69.2.3, had a small amount of gps drift today, and a couple of days ago in 10.69.2.2. Hopefully, it’s not going to be a recurring problem

 

[804son]

If you have a USB Hub plugged in, first try removing that and see if the issue resolves itself.

 

[rrolsbe]

Its been almost a week and a half since receiving FSD 10.69.2.2 (2022.20.17) and I have not had a single GPS issue. Normally. I'd have 3 or 4 per day.

I think Gigaron is correct that the cabin camera is off. I have tried briefly covering the lens and looking down at my phone many times and found FSD does not warn me about bad driving behavior. Fear not, my wife was watching the road from the passenger seat when I tried this. I try to be very engaged while using FSD so having the cabin camera off is OK as a personal matter but for the fleet I hope this only temporary as not everyone is engaged at all times. I don't mind my car helping me be safe at all times.

Firmware version 10.69.2.2 was the first version I installed that started using the cabin camera. I delayed installing this firmware until arriving home after along road trip because of a concern the cabin camera could possibly interfere with the GPS. No problem with the GPS/Nav when in use but I never considered that Tesla may have disable the cabin camera in the firmware. Need to look down while in FSD mode and verify I get a warning. Is there a better way to confirm the camera is on and being used? At this point, my assumption that the camera is not interfering with the GPS may be incorrect. I believe Tesla has indicated how the cabin camera is being used for driver monitoring to the NHTSA, disabling it to fix cabin camera/GPS interference might not be the best choice.

 

[Markpn]

What State allows the windshield to be tinted? It's been years since I checked but from what I remember tinting was only allowed on the windows behind the driver.

I don't know any state that permits it, but plenty of folks do it.

 

[Markpn]

What State allows the windshield to be tinted? It's been years since I checked but from what I remember tinting was only allowed on the windows behind the driver.

Window Tinting Laws in All 50 States | instamotor

The degree to which a driver can legally tint their car's windows vary from state to state. To make it just a little easier for drivers, we’ve got all the laws here in one place.

instamotor.com

No state permits the entirety of the windshield to be tinted - see the above website.

 

[Resist]

I don't know any state that permits it, but plenty of folks do it.

Maybe they like to pay tickets.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Maybe they like to pay tickets.

People are gambling the cops won't notice. If the tint looks close to clear and has no darkness to it, most cops won't notice. Here in California you aren't allow to darken the front windows either too much, but I see plenty of people do that, and cops mostly don't seem to care much.

 

[Resist]

cops mostly don't seem to care much.

Just like many don't seem to care much about vehicles not having front plates or staying in the passing lane on the highway. They need to start enforcing the vehicle codes.

 

[derotam]

Window Tinting Laws in All 50 States | instamotor

The degree to which a driver can legally tint their car's windows vary from state to state. To make it just a little easier for drivers, we’ve got all the laws here in one place.

instamotor.com

No state permits the entirety of the windshield to be tinted - see the above website.

Not true. Some states have medical exemptions and allow some level of tinting of the entire windshield. VA for example can do 70% entire windshield with medical exemption.

 

[boonedocks]

I have been posting in a different forum but wanted to post this here as well for the benefit of others having similar issues.
2021 Model S Refresh

"So after continually sending pictures (barraging) and examples of my GPS errors I just received a phone call from my service center and they have diagnosed that it is the selfie camera inside the car not being shielded properly and interfering with the GPS reception. New shielded selfie camera on order and I'll report back once it has been swapped out."

 

[Talguy]

Hello
I have a 2018 TM3 LR with no issues with GPS until a few weeks ago, at most, a month.
This happens intermittently, but regularly if that makes sense. It happens at least a couple of times daily when driving where it shows the car's current location off by anywhere between 50-500 ft or so.

2 scenarios:
1) When I am actually on a highway, the red arrow shows I am on the service/access/feeder road of the highway instead.
2) Sometimes, when I am on a city street heading northbound, red arrows would show on the same city, but on the other side (left) of the road, so it shows the red arrow moving against the flow of traffic!

This causes issues with navigation where it constantly asks me to merge onto the highway (scenario 1) or it asks me to take the next right and then left onto the city street I am already on. This is annoying and distracting...especially on the highway. More alarmingly and dangerous, on the highway, it would suddenly start braking since it thinks I am on the feeder road where the speed limit is obviously lower.

I have seen other posts where the more common issue with the GPS was that it was frozen in a particular location.
I did see a similar post that talks about the same issue I have been having:

GPS location off sometimes?

I spoke with my local SC last week and, for some reason, they are ordering "a part" & will call me when it comes in. I don't know if they remotely "talked" to the car to come up with that decision. ( can they even do that?)

teslamotorsclub.com

Now, I have gone to Service and they have tried to tell me that the signal is being blocked by my windshield tint (which I doubt). They nevertheless replaced the GPS antenna but I still have the same issue.
I have scheduled another service apt, but should I push for them to look at the gyro/accelerometer?

Changes that have been made to the car this year: New windshield tint + sunroof tint. I can't imagine tint causing this issue, these are not some old-style metallic tints, these are top of the line ceramic tint from a very reputed tint installer that has done thousands of Tesla tints.

Has anyone had this exact issue and gotten a resolution/found the cause?

One day last week, for the whole day, I kept getting messages on the screen: 'Autosteer not available', 'Cruise Control not available', 'Automatic Emergency Braking not available', but they fixed themselves the next day. Not sure if these were/are related to the GPS issue which still happens daily.

Oh and I have already tried soft reboot a couple of times to no avail.
TIA
KG

The GPS antenna is inside the car right (passenger) side rear mirror. Windshield tint should not effect the GPS signal.
One guy in Taiwan wrote an post about this. I used Google translator to translate to English and attached the pdf of the post.

新手必看：Model 3 無論貼哪一種隔熱紙都「不會」影響網路和 GPS 收訊喔！::DDCAR 電動車

老車主都會交代，Model 3 不管貼什麼隔熱紙，都不會影響到內建 4G 網路收訊，GPS 定位也一樣精準，這是真的嗎？沒錯，Model 3 確實有這「神技」，但原理非常簡單呢！

www.ddcar.com.tw

 

[stopcrazypp]

The GPS antenna is inside the car right (passenger) side rear mirror. Windshield tint should not effect the GPS signal.
One guy in Taiwan wrote an post about this. I used Google translator to translate to English and attached the pdf of the post.

新手必看：Model 3 無論貼哪一種隔熱紙都「不會」影響網路和 GPS 收訊喔！::DDCAR 電動車

老車主都會交代，Model 3 不管貼什麼隔熱紙，都不會影響到內建 4G 網路收訊，GPS 定位也一樣精準，這是真的嗎？沒錯，Model 3 確實有這「神技」，但原理非常簡單呢！

www.ddcar.com.tw

That article is incorrect, both the left and right mirrors are LTE antennas (left also has Wifi atenna). While the LTE might also be used for crude localization (like most phones use), they are not the GPS antennas.

The GPS antenna is located right at the rear view mirror front camera base (which is why there is interference when the cabin camera is on):

2017-2019 TESLA MODEL 3 GPS NAVIGATION ANTENNA CONTROL MODULE W/ TRIM COVER OEM #TS052519

The reason they aren't affected by tint is simply because it is not possible to apply tint on that area (given tint is applied from the inside on the inside glass).