So I've been driving an Lexus RX3?? for the past two days while my hood gets repainted. I know the car is almost a decade old, but it had one very interesting feature that I'd like for Model S. When you are on a major freeway and are coming upon an exit ramp, the Nav system displays an additional info screen that lists restaurants, hotels, gas stations, and the next rest stop. I cant tell you how many times I've wanted that feature in Model S where a list of possible places to eat would have saved me a considerable amount of distraction and frustration while taking a long trip.
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Lexus Navigation feature from several years ago
- Thread starter supratachophobia
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- Model S User Interface
swaltner
Active Member
I know you're talking about integrating into the on-board nav, but I run the program called RoadAhead on the iPhone for this function.
Have you tried the "Where is restaurants" navigation voice command? Works much better for me than my 2010 Lexus RX 400h navigation system which is DVD based and out of date many times. You can even specify a particular kind of restaurant (e.g. "Where is Indian restaurants").
Yes. You can use the "where is" voice command for a specific place or a category such as restaurants. I believe it uses the Google search engine.
Tesla Model S Voice Commands - TESLARATI.com
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Wait, but it wont give you a list? My problem is I'm not always familiar with what is around/coming up. It would be nice to see a list of places to eat that are upcoming, and then choose which one to navigate to. And the distance-to-rest-area would be especially useful. That way I know how long I have to hold it.
Sorry but I could not disagree with you any more.
I just went with my mother on Monday car shopping. She's coming from a 2014 Lexus RX350 (horrid nav and interface). The POI might be great, but having to scroll to each "C" and "X" is awful. We test drove a new 2016 Infiniti, and it was almost as bad. The only thing better was that the screen was touch-screen at least, so you can touch the letters instead of scrolling with a large button. I asked if it had voice capability, like "Navigate to 124 Main Street" etc...he said "yes", but you had to go through "prompts". So...no.
She wound up buying a new 2016 Porsche Macan, and the Navigation on it was just as useless. Same thing, "Type in Country, State, City, Street name, street number" individually. It was comical as the guy was trying to show us just how "intuitive" it is, while he pressed 8 different buttons to show us how to navigate somewhere.
Later he admitted that most of his clients just use their phone.Yes the Tesla navigation isn't perfect. I usually cross check it with my Waze app (and usually follow the Waze guidance instead), but as far as using the Tesla for POI...it's VASTLY superior to practically anything else I've come across. In other words, I can say "Where is Home Depot" and it shows the closest 3 home depots so I can choose the one that is going to be closest to where I'm wanting to go. The Porsche (after manually typing in Home Depot) only gave me one option, and only in list format...not superimposed on a map.
Oh and the final kicker in Tesla's favor, they can make it better over time and send it OTA....Porsche/Lexus can't.
It gives me a list (see below) based on the verbal search "where is restaurants". I'm currently in Newbury Park, CA and these are all restaurants near this location so I would just click on one to navigate there. It works for me but I think you're looking for something maybe more dynamic.
Well, not necessarily. Until it becomes more fully developed, I could just look ahead on the map to whatever town is listed, and then ask "where are restaurants near Effingham, IL", right?
Yes, Model S succeeds in bling with its map. And that's it. Other cars have less blingy but much more usable navigation.
My English accent is terrible so I can never make voice commands more complicated than "navigate home" work. Yet I could use voice commands on my Volt just fine - they were actually designed to be useful. One example is: "go to address directed" - it allows to say address piece-by-piece (city, street, house number) with possibilities to correct misunderstandings. Oh, and it all works offline on Volt.
But back to navigation - EVERYBODY else has waypoints (and I can manipulate them using voice commands on my Volt). Tesla lacks obvious features like: "How much energy will I have after this round-trip journey?". So pretty much every guide to route planning on Tesla begins with "go to evtripplanner.com".
The IC-based navigation system is ****. It has ZERO configuration options, it doesn't show the distance to the next turn and it's not possible to turn off that stupid exit rendering. It is so extremely nice when you have two exits very close together. Then there's that problem of having TWO independent navigation systems - they can and do go out of sync with each other.
Oh, and GPS receiver itself on Tesla is also complete ****. My Volt uses an integrated compass and car's odometer for dead reckoning to augment GPS. Tesla uses only GPS (and probably GLONASS) signals. So it's quite amusing to see my Tesla "driving" by itself on the map, while standing perfectly still inside my apartment's garage.
I can continue like this for an hour or so. Tesla's Google-integrated navigation was like a Godzilla next to a Bambi, compared to other car manufactureres back in 2012. But this advantage has eroded to pretty much nothing by now - next year many other car models will have large multitouch-capable screens with fast navigation.
I kinda start doubting that after 3 years of little-to-no significant updates.
Cyberax, like I said, it's not perfect but it's also not lagging behind everyone else like you said. I just gave three real world examples (4 actually if you count the Chevy Tahoe LTZ I was driving before this...unusable) that the Tesla is leaps and bounds better than.
The navigation has several well-known bugs, especially with route planning. But its interface and ease of use is so easy compared to several other brands. I've never been in a Volt, but it sounds great. But to say that Tesla's is lagging behind everyone else is absolutely without merit.
So you honestly think that Tesla is not going to push out any more updates to their navigation system? I seriously doubt that.
The navigation has several well-known bugs, especially with route planning. But its interface and ease of use is so easy compared to several other brands. I've never been in a Volt, but it sounds great. But to say that Tesla's is lagging behind everyone else is absolutely without merit.
So you honestly think that Tesla is not going to push out any more updates to their navigation system? I seriously doubt that.
This feature is in the Nav. It shows how much energy you will have at your destination, and for a round trip. If it is not displayed you can press the bottom part of the direction list and it will appear. The nav certainly needs work though, missing tons of basic features, as you noted.
No, it doesn't. It shows how much energy will remain at your destination, it doesn't show the round-trip info. And this is important - suppose I'm 50 miles away from a supercharger and want to drive up a nice mountain road. Will I have enough energy to go there and back to the SC? Right now it's impossible to answer.
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Try new Audi A8 navigation, it now has a 10" screen, multitouch and Google Earth integration: http://pictures.dealer.com/a/audisouthburlingtonaoa/1731/7c47e34d0a0d028a01301061aee15aaa.jpg It is seriously getting better than Tesla.
At their rate of improvements - quite possibly not until I'm well over 100k miles.
Nav shows both amount at destination, and the round trip estimation. Check again.
You need to click the bottom of the Direction List window where it shows the estimated time of arrival and miles remaining, etc. That will pop up an estimate for both the destination, and the round trip. It doesn't display by default so I can see how you'd miss it, but it is certainly there.
EDIT: Seems like what you're asking for is not a round-trip (there and back), but a multiple way-point trip. It would be a good feature to add.
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Comparing the nav software in my Model S to the software I had nearly 10 years ago in my Lexus LS, the LS had more features. I'm not saying the Model S software is bad - the 17" touchscreen is beautiful - the user interface is much easier to use, and unlike Lexus, you can actually interact with the software while the car is moving (in my Lexus, most screen input was disabled with the car was in motion).
The routes were configurable on the LS - allowing me to restrict routes based on freeways, tollways, etc. I could set waypoints. The real-time traffic would display warnings about upcoming traffic congestion and ask if I wanted to re-route (the Model S software doesn't provide any details on traffic issues and appears to frequently re-route without asking). When plotting a route to a new destination, I would be presented with several routing options based on distance and time - and was able to select which route I wanted to take. And I could enter "avoid" points for routes I wanted to avoid. The turn-by-turn listing would have icons allowing me to quickly find restaurants and other POI at each upcoming exit.
The LS suffered from some of the same issues I have with the Model S. While the touchscreen maps are from Google and updated almost immediately after roads are changed, the navigation software is updated (at best) annually, and often have inconsistencies when roads are changed and added - and because there has been a lot of road construction in my area, I often get navigation routes to and from my house that don't make sense because the navigation software doesn't know there are new roads.
The Model S software has advantages - and displaying the navigation map on the dashboard is a huge plus. But it's been 3 years since the Model S started production, and it's disappointing that Tesla hasn't done more to enhance the basic navigation feature set.
Maybe we'll see more in V7...
Overall, the Model S is a fantastic car - and with the ability for software to be updated, has the potential to be even better - but only if Tesla will invest the resources to add missing (and very useful) functionality into the core apps (navigation, audio system).
The routes were configurable on the LS - allowing me to restrict routes based on freeways, tollways, etc. I could set waypoints. The real-time traffic would display warnings about upcoming traffic congestion and ask if I wanted to re-route (the Model S software doesn't provide any details on traffic issues and appears to frequently re-route without asking). When plotting a route to a new destination, I would be presented with several routing options based on distance and time - and was able to select which route I wanted to take. And I could enter "avoid" points for routes I wanted to avoid. The turn-by-turn listing would have icons allowing me to quickly find restaurants and other POI at each upcoming exit.
The LS suffered from some of the same issues I have with the Model S. While the touchscreen maps are from Google and updated almost immediately after roads are changed, the navigation software is updated (at best) annually, and often have inconsistencies when roads are changed and added - and because there has been a lot of road construction in my area, I often get navigation routes to and from my house that don't make sense because the navigation software doesn't know there are new roads.
The Model S software has advantages - and displaying the navigation map on the dashboard is a huge plus. But it's been 3 years since the Model S started production, and it's disappointing that Tesla hasn't done more to enhance the basic navigation feature set.
Maybe we'll see more in V7...
Overall, the Model S is a fantastic car - and with the ability for software to be updated, has the potential to be even better - but only if Tesla will invest the resources to add missing (and very useful) functionality into the core apps (navigation, audio system).
To your first point, you are incorrect. It does show you round trip info if you know how to access it. trils0n already pointed that out.
To your second point, again, you are either not understanding or intentionally ignoring my statements. I did not say there are not any out there better than Tesla's, not even close. But to suggest (as you did) that they are behind everyone else is flat out wrong. As I mentioned, I just literally sat in two brand new (in other words, their latest and greatest technology) 2016 luxury vehicles who's systems were woefully inadequate and miles behind Tesla. And these brands have been building cars for 100 years. Not 12. Of course that Audi A8 looks fantastic, and I'm sure it is better than Tesla's. But again, that's not the point I was making.
Looking back through the rest of your 28 posts, most of them are critical of Tesla, so perhaps you have an axe to grind.
Someone who buys that A8 will be stuck with that Nav until they sell their car. My Tesla navigation will get better over time. Overnight? No, but I do have faith that it will.
ken830
Model S 85, Model 3 Performance, Model X LongRange
It's easy to forget where we came from. The maps/nav app didn't always have/allow:
Probably a bunch more I'm forgetting. I know many of these new features are buggy and need work, but nearly all of those are first-attempts and they are definitely something Tesla added after-the-fact. I think this shows clearly that they are committed to updating the navigation system and things will get better.
- "heading-up" orientation. "North-up" is all you had before
- Related to the above: You also couldn't rotate the map -- Pinch and zoom in were all you could do.
- Traffic re-routing. I know the first (current) implementation sucks.
- Charge-level prediction at destination and round-trip
- Related to above: Energy App integration for charge-level prediction along planned route.
- Superchargers added to the map/nav. It's hard to imagine a time that this wasn't always there.
- Destination chargers added to the map/nav.
- Supercharger routing. I know it's buggy in its first iteration (still beta).
- Commute advice
- Calendar integration (Navigates to your next appointment)
- Tap-and-hold destination selection.
Probably a bunch more I'm forgetting. I know many of these new features are buggy and need work, but nearly all of those are first-attempts and they are definitely something Tesla added after-the-fact. I think this shows clearly that they are committed to updating the navigation system and things will get better.
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