Understanding traffic data on navigation map

[jdcollins5]

Getting the data from Teslas only wouldn't work in most of the country. When I got mine almost 2 years ago now I was the only one around. Now there are more but still not enough to predict anything. And since we all have the large screen maps with traffic data, wouldn't we be causing our own traffic patterns?

The traffic data comes from all other cell phone GPS, not just Tesla.

 

[Zacster]

The traffic data comes from all other cell phone GPS, not just Tesla.

Well, yes. That's why I say it couldn't work with just Tesla data. There would be no traffic showing up on the screen.

 

[jabloomf1230]

Well, yes. That's why I say it couldn't work with just Tesla data. There would be no traffic showing up on the screen.

I'm not exactly sure where the a Tesla traffic data comes from. With Google Maps and Waze, only phones with location permission enabled and actively running each app contribute to the instantaneous traffic dataset. The speed of these phones (calculated by GPS) is compared to an historical speed database maintained by Google/Waze.

Sooo, what does Tesla use?

 

[pikeman]

The idea that congestion is calculated using cell phone data sounds logical except in a reality we experience regularly. A neighborhood school causes regular congestion in the morning and afternoon and it never displays. And once clear of the congestion, empty streets, even dead ends, are shown as congested. So I am confused.

 

[dusty22]

The idea that congestion is calculated using cell phone data sounds logical except in a reality we experience regularly. A neighborhood school causes regular congestion in the morning and afternoon and it never displays. And once clear of the congestion, empty streets, even dead ends, are shown as congested. So I am confused.

I'm confused too. Most of those red lines have no rhyme or reason. I don't pay much attention to them unless they are on main roads along my route.

 

[GtiMart]

I presume there's a delay in the traffic reporting, the algorithm probably includes some minimum time stopped otherwise it would report traffic everywhere. Normally we don't feel that delay because once traffic builds up it stays for a while. Some traffic light patterns and schools might not quite show correctly.

 

[Kevy Baby]

I have never really felt I can trust the "real-time" traffic in the car.

While it is just a single data point, my daily commute offers me three "major" alternatives. The car always wants to take me the longer route with a toll road (and much higher energy consumption due to a significant hill), but Waze never takes this route. For some reason, despite having the Tesla navigation set to use HOV lanes, the routing never seems to take this into account. So I never follow the car's overall route to work.

I use Waze for all my drives (not just work) to get the best route. It's not perfect, but it does the best job for me. (Though it does occasionally want to take me off the freeway and then immediately back on - it's rare but I do see it once in a great while.)

 

[RTPEV]

I use Waze for all my drives (not just work) to get the best route. It's not perfect, but it does the best job for me. (Though it does occasionally want to take me off the freeway and then immediately back on - it's rare but I do see it once in a great while.)

I know what you mean. On long trips it's not uncommon for me to have 3 apps up: the car, Waze, and ABRP (which I have up so I can easily see upcoming Supercharger utilization). If I see signs of slowdowns or construction or something, I'll check the recommendations of all 3 and see if 2 out of the 3 agree (although even if Waze is the one that disagrees, I will give it more weight as it's proven itself more accurate).

One time, however, the car actually did better than Waze. My wife and I happened to be driving separately from Fayetteville, NC to Durham, NC. I popped in our address into the car and it wanted to take me on some back roads rather than the interstate, which I thought was very interesting. I ignored it because Waze was not making the same recommendation. My wife was using Waze in her car. At one point I noticed the car was having me get off the highway, and I noticed at the last minute that there was some construction ahead. Waze kept me on the highway, but I decided to follow the car's nav. It was an interesting back-road diversion, but I wound up beating my wife home by 30 minutes! I bet if I had followed the car's nav right from the start it would have been even more.

 

[Big Earl]

That’s unfortunate. I’ve been diverted around several accidents outside of California, most recent on the DC beltway and before that on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. In both cases, the navigation suggested a pretty brilliant alternate route, similar to what I would have seen with Waze. I also find that the Tesla navigation suggests really unconventional (and seemingly faster) routes through DC traffic, similar to Waze ways, as I affectionately referred to them in my pre-Tesla days.

Update: Tesla nav routed me around a construction backup on I-5 in Gervais, Oregon (just south of Woodburn) last night. I estimate it saved me at least twenty minutes.

The colors on the nav show average traffic speed, not average congestion. The two are usually related, but not always, which is why you’ll see yellow show up at 4-way stop intersections that aren’t actually busy, as well as on steep highway grades where trucks are climbing slowly but traffic is still light.

 

[dflowerz]

Those double thin red lines showed up on my Tesla map for the first time yesterday. They were unrelated to any traffic. One set was at the stop sign the always gives FSD problems. Wonder if they are related to FSD having issues in those areas? I have had the car for almost a year and only yesterday saw those lines. Never saw them before anywhere.

 

[legendsk]

The good: I have been amazed at how accurate the estimate to arrival time is. Always right on unless something truly unusual happens. Time of day, day of week, holidays, special local events and the times vary a lot for same trips, but always accurate.

The bad: NAV used to plot a blue route and a couple of gray alternate routes and you could choose one of the alternates and it would lock on, turn blue and stay on that route. True, there was no way to plot my own route without spending 20 minutes putting in way points, but it wasn't too bad to disengage, get past the turn NAV wanted to make, re-engage and continue on.

But software update #6 or so killed that and now it will plot a route in blue only, no alternates and accept no changes in any form. And now as soon as you re-engage NAV will start screaming to make a U-turn for several miles. NAV is also wrong 80% of the time about which side of the road the destination is on. But that's okay because FSDb generally turns the other way from NAVs voice guidance anyhow???

The ugly: Imagine what the next update will bring? Make it really easy to plot the route you want, but as soon as you start moving it will throw away your route and jump to one of its own device and lock on it? 80% => 90% The trip time estimates become erratic?

Optimist: "Things couldn't possible get worse".
Pessimist: "Oh yes they could."

 

[Zacster]

My latest beef with the traffic/navigation is that it'll put me on tiny residential roads sometimes and take a very roundabout route rather than just stay on main roads once you are out on them.