Out of curiosity, are there any Tesla owners that can chime in about their experience?
Do you use the in-built GPS, or just use your phone?
I would think if anyone has it right, it would be Tesla.
Do you use the in-built GPS, or just use your phone?
I would think if anyone has it right, it would be Tesla.
The built-in navigation isn't great. It lacks some pretty obvious options (it doesn't offer multiple routes, and you can't give it intermediate waypoints) and its routing is occasionally stupid. Although the big screen shows Google Maps, the actual routing is done using an onboard database which is not as good as Google is. But it's good enough that the convenience of just using the big screen in the car outweighs the superior results I get from my phone.
It is getting better, which is one thing most cars can't say. We recently got the ability to have it avoid toll roads, for example, and while that really should have been there from the beginning, it's pretty cool that it can be added after the fact.
Navigation is one of the top complaints from Tesla owners in my experience, and I agree with a lot of those complaints, but it's not bad enough to have me going for my phone except in rare cases.
Most gps let you pick to include or exclude car pools, but it is such a pain to change the setting that it is usually left on excluding car pools. But Tesla could know exactly how many people are in the car, and do the right thing automatically. It would also affect journey times since car pool lanes are often quicker.
There are also some HOT lanes around here (where you can either drive for free with 3+ people, or pay a toll with less) and it never routes me onto those, even though it happily routes me onto other toll roads. Not sure what's up with that.
* voice commands for navigation actually work. Recognition is quick and accurate.
* Should you need to type in an address, Tesla treats you like an adult, and lets you do it while the car is moving. All the other recent cars I've driven won't even let the passenger enter an address unless the car is stopped.
* Map display is fluid and uncluttered
The UI just got a refresh with version 8.0 and it is now even easier to use. With a single swipe I can navigate to home or work (it is location and time aware, so it will navigate me to the right destination automatically), and the navigation now sticks to the top half of the screen when I have two apps open. I tend to leave the nav in fullscreen mode though since I like to see more of my route.
Its critical for long distance trips because it will also navigate you through superchargers automatically as needed, and will tell you how long you will need to charge at each, along with an estimate of your trip time. I have taken a lot of long trips since getting the Tesla so this has been invaluable.
Supposedly the next update will use the navigation to guide the autopilot (it will take exit ramps between highways automatically).
Even in the Model S, I use my phone's directions. Tesla's map app is great, and the UI is _really_ good (even better in the latest update!), but their source for navigation is garbage (and also their routing algorithm).
I hear it's cause whatever they use works offline, but also because Google wants them to send back real time data, but Tesla doesn't want to (forgot where I heard this though).
I would much much prefer to use the Tesla UI for nav, but the directions are really that bad.
I've used the built-in nav for about a year, and had to go buy a phone mount.