Impressed by navigation system!

[kirkbauer]

So after my first day of work with the MS and the car tells me that there is heavy traffic on my way home and suggested an alternate route. Looking at the traffic graph it may very well have been correct, plus it showed me a new way home I didn't know about (4 years with the same commute). The new route might not be better every day but it certainly had less traffic and was more fun.

I guess I'm impressed because I wasn't even navigating when it gave me the suggestion, I had just hopped into the car.

 

[rickgt]

surprised it knew where you were going on the first day... it figures out your regular pattern, and will suggest traffic avoidance. Usually needs to be navigating somewhere in order to tell you how to get around traffic. It's kind of like the old joke: don't know where we are going, but making great time.

So after my first day of work with the MS and the car tells me that there is heavy traffic on my way home and suggested an alternate route. Looking at the traffic graph it may very well have been correct, plus it showed me a new way home I didn't know about (4 years with the same commute). The new route might not be better every day but it certainly had less traffic and was more fun.

I guess I'm impressed because I wasn't even navigating when it gave me the suggestion, I had just hopped into the car.

 

[Btrflyl8e]

Doesn't have to be navigating to suggest a faster route home... maybe it uses your home location if you have that entered. That would explain the day one part and not needing to be actively navigating.

 

[kirkbauer]

I had stored both home and work addresses, but this was the first time I was at work.

Also, my commute is 3 miles so finding a route 5min faster was impressive

 

[AllenWong]

I had stored both home and work addresses, but this was the first time I was at work.

Also, my commute is 3 miles so finding a route 5min faster was impressive

Yes, if you set both home and work addresses and are in at least one of those locations, it will think that you are trying to get to the other place and will suggest an alternative route due to traffic. It does this whenever you first start your car and before you even set a navigation place.

I would suggest getting an app like Google maps or Waze to tell you the best routes. I find those times to be more accurate than Tesla's navigation.

 

[ohcomeon]

I've found the navigation to be bad in Europe so only use it when I'm travelling somewhere I don't know or am a little unsure of. I do, however, like the traffic warnings on the map and when I'm travelling locally I make the map full screen and position my location right at the bottom of the screen showing as much of my planned route as possible. If I see a red line I divert. The size of the screen is priceless for this.

 

[wayner]

I would suggest getting an app like Google maps or Waze to tell you the best routes. I find those times to be more accurate than Tesla's navigation.

I totally agree that Waze is much better than the car at basic nav and then it has lots of other features too.

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

3 miles? Just wait until you find helicopter mode.

 

[jbcarioca]

I totally agree that Waze is much better than the car at basic nav and then it has lots of other features too.

I now use my Tesla navigation only to go to Superchargers. For everything else Waze is the solution! Even in quite strange situations such as my current travel in Rio de Janeiro Waze consistently offers the most time-efficient routing. I have become so accustomed to Waze that I have saved my typical charging locations as favorites. Sadly, until 4G/LTE becomes a reality, with a better graphics card too, Tesla nav will not really be a practical option because of very slow updates. Tethering the Tesla web to my iPhone does help a lot, but the slow graphics card still interferes with fast updating.

 

[wayner]

3 miles? Just wait until you find helicopter mode.

if you just have 3 miles to go then get a drone and go up a few hundred feet to scope out traffic before you leave.

 

[GlmnAlyAirCar]

So after my first day of work with the MS and the car tells me that there is heavy traffic on my way home and suggested an alternate route. Looking at the traffic graph it may very well have been correct, plus it showed me a new way home I didn't know about (4 years with the same commute). The new route might not be better every day but it certainly had less traffic and was more fun.

I guess I'm impressed because I wasn't even navigating when it gave me the suggestion, I had just hopped into the car.

When I first started using the nav system, I was a bit confused about what made "home" and "work" special regarding traffic avoidance, because it seems the nav system will minimize delays any time while navigating. Then I did notice what you experienced - when I got into the car after work it suggested an alternate route home, without me having to enter a destination into the nav system. That appears to be the significance of "home" and "work."

 

[TexasEV]

This was part of a recent update-- I think it was 6.0--on weekdays the car assumes you're driving to work in the morning and heading home from work in the afternoon, and monitors traffic on that route in the background even when not using navigation. That's why the car prompts you to enter home and work locations.

 

[redi]

The other weekend day on a several hundred mile trip the nav routed me right through the center of a major downtown (several miles on a synced-light street) when all the other normal-route highways connecting my route were red or very congested. I originally thought the route was madness but followed it anyway to see what was happening. But with the synced traffic signals I just sailed through and this probably saved 15-20 minutes on the route.

I have yet to figure out if this was brilliance on the nav's part or a fluke.

 

[kirkbauer]

if you just have 3 miles to go then get a drone and go up a few hundred feet to scope out traffic before you leave.

Actually, now that you mention this, I could totally see a future where the MS has a small drone it can launch to get visuals if there is a traffic back-up, then update the online data so you can route around the accident, etc.

 

[jcaspar]

I agree works better for me. I have had a few times where the Tesla Nav picked up better ways that Waze. A couple of times I have not followed the Tesla Nav because it seemed longer but found out it was right due to construction delays and bad traffic. It also found a better way to work for me that I now use every day.

So after my first day of work with the MS and the car tells me that there is heavy traffic on my way home and suggested an alternate route. Looking at the traffic graph it may very well have been correct, plus it showed me a new way home I didn't know about (4 years with the same commute). The new route might not be better every day but it certainly had less traffic and was more fun.

I guess I'm impressed because I wasn't even navigating when it gave me the suggestion, I had just hopped into the car.

 

[Btrflyl8e]

We closely monitored the real time traffic indicators on the map during our Boston trip, and found it to be VERY accurate. After verifying it was spot on, we started following whatever route changes it suggested...

 

[bob_p]

While the real-time traffic routing is a nice feature, it is still behind what my 2007 Lexus had - which not only would do real-time traffic re-routing, it would provide notification of upcoming traffic problems, and usually provide some indication of the type of problem (such as "left lane closed ahead").

However, that system had very limited coverage and only had data for the major urban freeways broadcast by XM radio - and no traffic data for the side streets - a significant advantage of the Model S nav system, since it's using the real-time traffic data from Google.

Still hoping Tesla will make another pass at the navigation software - and do more than just the basic functionality - and take advantage of the data available to the software to provide more capabilities to help the drivers...