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Tesla Navigation is Terrible.

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Does anyone else have problems with the navigation system like this:
IMG_20170813_115758.jpg


Clearly it's not trying to avoid traffic, 202 is green all the way! I get the most obscure reroutes for what it seems like no reason. I emailed Tesla Support but haven't heard back. It's annoying to have to use my phone to navigate when I have a 17" screen on my dash.
 
Yes.

There are several potential causes of this with the current navigation software:
  • The road has changed since the navigation maps were produced in 2015. While the Google maps are showing the road, the navigation maps may believe there is a problem, such as road construction. If this is the case, the route probably won't change as you're driving - that navigation software doesn't believe there is a road, and has to go around.
  • There is a glitch in the real-time traffic data. This appears to be coming from Google - and it's not completely up-to-date, and sometimes has inaccuracies. If this is the case, the navigation software will catch this on the next real-time traffic update, and depending upon your navigation settings, it should re-route you back onto the road in a few minutes.
  • There is missing or inaccurate data in the speed limit database. Tesla (without any official notification) apparently shifted to using TomTom for the speed limit data. In our area, this has resulted in missing or incorrect speed limit data on many of the roads in our area (one surface street has a 40MPH speed limit - and Tesla thinks it's 55!). Since the routing appears to be done by a combination of the real-time traffic data and speed limit data, this may or may not have a lasting impact on the route.
When we see an odd routing, before we take it - we'll look much more closely at the expected route vs. the navigation route.

Sometimes there is something bad happening, and to avoid getting stuck in traffic for an extended time, it really may be better to take the odd route.

But, most of the time, it's due to either bad road, traffic or speed limit data - and taking the odd route will be worse.

Clearly this has to be fixed in order for Tesla to achieve their goals for EAP & FSD.

Since they haven't made any official comments on the new navigation software - we don't know what they are doing or the improvements they expect to make.

Maybe we'll see the navigation software released soon to the S &X, and we'll have a new set of issues to deal with...
 
  • Informative
Reactions: jeffro01
I had the same problem with my Toyota navigation. As it turns our, Toyota acquires the navigation disk from a data supplier.
I suspect Tesla does the same thing. Keeping the data updated is an enormous task.
Toyota disk updates are very expensive .... at least (I think) Tesla updates free?
 
Does anyone else have problems with the navigation system like this: View attachment 242079

Clearly it's not trying to avoid traffic, 202 is green all the way! I get the most obscure reroutes for what it seems like no reason. I emailed Tesla Support but haven't heard back. It's annoying to have to use my phone to navigate when I have a 17" screen on my dash.
yes, see this kind of nonsense all the time in Oregon/Washington. Its annoying to have to "outthink" the nav when I'm busy heading to a destination I've not driven to before.

Just imagine the reaction of passengers if it does this kind of dumb-a$$ stuff in FSD.
 
I can't say I've ever had a bad route or a "dumb" route in the over 1.5 years I've had my car... Maybe I'm just lucky...

That being said, the navigation system overall is sorely lacking the most basic features an off the shelf Garmin has had for years...

Jeff
 
I have experienced wonky navigation instructions too, particularly when I want to return home to Fresno from the Minden, Nevada area or from Bridgeport CA. It wants me to reach US50, charge in the Folsom area and then head for home down SR99. It refuses to believe that Sonora Pass or Ebbets Passes are open. Moreover, it is not until I am well on the western slope of the Sierra that the navigation system finally figures out that I know more than the car and then will select the proper route.

I can make it home easily in my 2014 S from Minden or from Bridgeport without stopping to charge, but the navigation system directs me to Folsom or Reno to charge and then to Manteca.

While we are discussing the navigation, I returned home over Tioga Pass recently. Once I was in Yosemite, the touchscreen said that I was driving on CA-120W. This is absurd. California state route 120 does not transit Yosemite National Park. It ends at the western entrance to the park, and it resumes at the eastern entrance to the park.

Law section.

I have found errors like this before on the touchscreen. You would think that whoever provides this data would know better.

Similar errors on highway numbering are also on the map on my iphone. Sloppy work.
 
A year or so back I wrote about a NAV suggested detour of about 10+ miles to cross an intersection to get to the Seattle Tesla Service Center. I was stopped at a red light. Across the intersection from the light is the Seattle Tesla Service Center -- maybe 100 feet away. Tesla's suggestion at the time was to turn off the traffic aware part of the NAV, figuring that somehow there was bad data coming in that way.

I could probably have come up with 100 different ways to cross the intersection that would have been faster and shorter than the suggested alternate route. Even with bad traffic data, mine was an egregious error of the NAV.

(My thread from last year: Using the Nav to get to the SoDo Service Center - Not a good idea?)
 
Yes, Tesla navigation is "state of the art" if you've time traveled back to 2000!

And buy a 5 year old navigation system even in 2000. My 1999 Toyota system had a better system with more accurate routing, waypoints etc.

The one thing I DO give kudo's to Tesla - they don't deem it necessary to prevent the front seat passenger from accessing the navigation system keyboard while the vehicle is in motion. Every other vehicle I have does.
 
While Tesla hasn't made any official announcements, there have been reports that the Model 3 has a new navigation system using "open source" software and different maps - and that Model S/X will eventually get this.

If EAP/FSD is going to rely on the navigation software for routing, it won't work with annual map updates (with maps that are likely already 6 to 12 months out of date).

We also had the out-of-date map problems with our Lexus & Toyota systems - which required updates using optical disks or data transfer at the service center.

We moved into a newly constructed house in late 2014, on a street that has been completed for years before that.

The Tesla navigation system didn't know our street address and was confused when trying to route to/from our house.

I reported the problem to Tesla immediately.

It's been 2.5 years. Our S P85 still can't drive to our street address. We can get it close by using another address on the same street, but the nav software thinks it takes 5 minutes to drive several feet when entering our block, so all navigation time estimates to our house are always 5 minutes longer than needed.

And, our new S 100D (delivered in March) has exactly the same problem.

It was understandable we'd have issues when moving into a new house in 2014 - but really, shouldn't that problem have been fixed by now?

Hopefully moving off the Navigon maps - onto maps that are more up-to-date will fix this problem. Though, if they are shifting to TomTom data, the new speed limit database accuracy isn't very encouraging...
 
Though...

A couple of years ago we were on a road trip when the navigation system wanted to route us off the interstate and take a strange route and avoid the highway.

Since traffic was moving at or above the speed limit when we passed the exit the NAV software wanted us to take, we decided to ignore it and suspected it was yet another bad route, that would be cleared up in a few minutes when the next real time traffic data was downloaded.

Did we make a mistake! Shortly after passing the point of no return - traffic on the highway ground to a complete halt. There was construction of an overpass on the highway ahead, and they had temporarily closed the road to all traffic while they were moving equipment.

This backed the interstate up for miles. Vehicles (mostly pick up trucks) were jumping off the freeway and driving through the grass onto the frontage road - which was also backed up - and also closed.

And because we were in an area that didn't have any side roads near the highway - there wasn't any where to go, especially since it was too late to back up to the previous exit ramp.

We ended up sitting there for an hour, until the construction equipment cleared.

That time, I wish we'd taken the NAV's recommended route...

Though that was only one time. Most of the time, when the route looks screwy - it's a mistake...
 
A year or so back I wrote about a NAV suggested detour of about 10+ miles to cross an intersection to get to the Seattle Tesla Service Center. I was stopped at a red light. Across the intersection from the light is the Seattle Tesla Service Center -- maybe 100 feet away. Tesla's suggestion at the time was to turn off the traffic aware part of the NAV, figuring that somehow there was bad data coming in that way.

I could probably have come up with 100 different ways to cross the intersection that would have been faster and shorter than the suggested alternate route. Even with bad traffic data, mine was an egregious error of the NAV.

(My thread from last year: Using the Nav to get to the SoDo Service Center - Not a good idea?)
We need Tesla to license ZIP2 for better routing.....