Navigation bug when going reverse

[Darren]

I noticed this bug this weekend when I was using the navigation function.

I set a destination and navigate to it.

I put the car in reverse and go backwards.

The navigation updates and thinks i'm going the opposite direction, so the route readjusts.

I put the car in drive and go forward. The navigation changes back.

 

[NigelM]

That's not a bug.....it's playing with your car.

 

[PhilBa]

Definitely not a bug - you were going a different way so it tried to accommodate you. There's no way for it to know you are driving in reverse.

A similar thing happens when you are parked somewhere, set a destination and then have to turn around. As soon as you start moving forward, it thinks you going a different way but when you complete the turn it switches back.

 

[kjl]

Definitely not a bug - you were going a different way so it tried to accommodate you. There's no way for it to know you are driving in reverse.

Are you sure? Unlike your phone, which you may be holding in any orientation inside a car (so nav apps must use location deltas to guess your direction), the car should know exactly which way it is facing, no? Indeed, when I check "my location" on the Tesla App, the arrow is extremely accurate regarding the direction of the car, even when I have parked it in a parking spot by turning 90 degrees, completing the rotation right as I finish parking. i.e. I could not have been moving far enough in the direction the car is pointed for the change in location to have provided an accurate direction reading; therefore there must be directional information coming directly from the GPS.

 

[PhilBa]

Does it have a magnetometer or use successive gps reading to figure out direction? I had exactly the scenario I described last night - it had me going the opposite direction before starting out, flipped as I pulled out and then flipped again when I had completed the turn. This took maybe all of 5 seconds. It surprised me that it did that so fast. If it has a mag, it could be biasing towards the GPS readings over the mag. The gps in the tesla seems really good, by the way, the updates are very quick. Phones use a lower update rate to save battery so you get a coarser set of points.

 

[kendallpb]

Maybe it thought you were going to be driving in reverse the whole time. ;-)

 

[Plug Me In]

Geez, how far are you driving backwards? Unless you're navigating 3 houses down, I would think you'd have to go pretty far before it wants to change the route.

Reminds me of a Car Talk not too long ago when they're talking about their Dad giving directions. He starts out by asking "Which way is your car pointing?"

 

[Darren]

I went reverse for literally 2 feet and the navigation immediately re-routed me. Try it out!

 

[twinklejet]

It might know you're going in reverse, but for how long it would have no idea. You could be planning to drive in reverse for the next 1 hour to your destination!
You would then complain "why didn't the nav accomodate my reverse driving style! can't it see i'm already in reverse?"

Tesla can't please everyone.
Perhaps the car should prompt "Hello, I see you've switched to reverse while I had assumed you wanted forward navigation. Are there zombies coming at us from the front preventing further forward travel? We can attempt to bash through them, or I can re-route us in reverse to the destination if you'd like. Please select..."

 

[kvietor]

Come on guys, the car nows which way it's pointed and which way it's traveling. It can't account for which gear you plan to use. It's not a bug and it's not something which needs fixing.

 

[kjl]

Does it have a magnetometer or use successive gps reading to figure out direction? I had exactly the scenario I described last night - it had me going the opposite direction before starting out, flipped as I pulled out and then flipped again when I had completed the turn. This took maybe all of 5 seconds. It surprised me that it did that so fast. If it has a mag, it could be biasing towards the GPS readings over the mag. The gps in the tesla seems really good, by the way, the updates are very quick. Phones use a lower update rate to save battery so you get a coarser set of points.

Interesting - I went in reverse for about 5 feet and it rerouted me. On the Tesla App, however, the arrow flipped back and forth between the direction of travel and the direction the car was facing.

I suspect the car does know which way it's facing but the nav system uses successive position readings to determine direction.

 

[steve841]

Maybe I'm missing something here ....

Nav in reverse seems like an oxymoron ...

Call me crazy.

 

[hfmalom]

One Gear(?)

Doesn't the Model S have only one gear? The difference between drive and reverse is based on reversing the DC current on the motor(?). Simple even in reverse!

 

[jerry33]

When I'm in reverse, I'm not looking at the Nav system. I hope you aren't either.

 

[gregincal]

I'm going to do a "come on" the other way. It's ridiculous to say the Nav has to account that you might want to drive backwards. I don't think it's a big deal, and if you're reversing you're could be in a car park and not pointed the way you want to go anyway, but I would think the direction the car is pointed is probably better than the current direction of travel for Nav. As I say, though, I don't think it's a big deal.

 

[Francis Lau]

When I'm in reverse, I'm not looking at the Nav system. I hope you aren't either.

Oh come on! I saw James Bond do it - drive in reverse using the backup camera. Now with a MS, we can do it with the camera and nav - it will even tell us what time we will get there in reverese. Now we just need the option to plunge into the ocean and convert into a submarine!

 

[PhilBa]

Maybe this should be renamed the "Oh come on" thread - like some one is telling a huge bullshit story. I love how people pick things apart to prove how in-the-know they are.

As for nav in reverse, of course I don't ever look at it. But I do after I've completed backing up and if it's still showing the directions that it switched to when in reverse, it's going to be a moment of confusion. Even though I didn't back up yesterday during the situation I described, it definitely confused me for a second as it was a different route from 5 seconds earlier. Still, it's not a bug, it's just a side effect of a very fast GPS and routing system.

 

[Musterion]

"Forward" and "Reverse" in the MS are relative terms and don't necessarily indicate direction of travel. Don't forget about all those people who drive in reverse "gear" while going forward down a hill, so you can use the accelerator as a brake and get full regen -- Things you may not have discovered about your Model S?! - Page 26. Then you wouldn't want Nav caring about D vs R. Haven't tried it yet myself though.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I noticed this bug this weekend when I was using the navigation function.

I set a destination and navigate to it.

I put the car in reverse and go backwards.

The navigation updates and thinks i'm going the opposite direction, so the route readjusts.

I put the car in drive and go forward. The navigation changes back.

How is this a bug? All of my GPS in all vehicles works the same way. This is a good thing.

 

[kjl]

How is this a bug? All of my GPS in all vehicles works the same way. This is a good thing.

It's not necessarily a "bug", but it's doubtful that it's what you actually want. e.g. it can be a little disorienting if you need to back up out of a parallel parking spot (or worse, shimmy back and forth a few times), and the GPS keeps rerouting you each time you switch: am I supposed to go forwards or do a U-turn right now? Halfway through turning around you run out of space, so you need to make it a K turn instead - you back up, and the GPS reroutes you again, etc..

It's not the biggest deal in the world, and likely not even considered a bug, but the preferred behavior would be for the GPS to route based on the direction my car is facing.