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Most drivers who own cars with built-in GPS systems use phones for directions

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Re: Most drivers who own cars with built-in GPS systems use phones for directions

#321

Post by gambiting »

MagnumOpus wrote: post #312
gambiting wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simplest explanation - because a car can be taken on a private road(off road track, racing circuit) and driven as fast as you like. Yeah, you are not going to do that in a prius, but theoretically, you could. All new cars in EU have to be limited to 155mph by law, but manufacturers are allowed to remove that restriction if you complete an advanced training course. So for example - mercedes will remove the speed limit…

> All new cars in EU have to be limited to 155mph by law Can you give a source for that? To my knowledge the 155mph limit is just an informal agreement between BMW, Merc and Audi, and not law. The agreement also expired a decade ago. I am fairly sure that you can just buy an RS6 or an AMG Mercedes with 190mph top speed, no courses required.

Well, I bought an new AMG vehicle 3 months ago, so I happen to know that the only way to remove the limiter is to attend one of the AMG training courses. I imagine if you greased enough elbows you would get the limiter removed without doing the course, but there's certainly nothing you can do to order one from factory without the limiter.

And yes, I've done a bit of digging at it appears you are correct - it's not actually the law, just an agreement between manufacturers.

Edit: Ok, I've looked through technical specs of all AMG vehicles, and it looks like every AMG model from A to S class is limited to 155mph unless you do the course, but the AMG GT isn't. So....yeah, I'm just completely wrong on this. My apologies.

Re: Most drivers who own cars with built-in GPS systems use phones for directions

#322

Post by CamperBob2 »

danpat wrote: post #137
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #69

Semi unrelated question: Am I the only one who wished navigation apps allowed more precise control of route complexity? Just a slider that goes between "minimum number of turns" and "most efficient" would be nice. Optimizing a route for complexity vs efficiency is a very important consideration when planning a route. A way to do that in a navigation app would be really nice. I appreciate the intention but taking four…

I'm paid to work on navigation software: http://www.project-osrm.org/ The answer to your question is: because it's hard to make some of these adjustments on-the-fly and still have reasonably fast queries. On embedded devices, space and processing power are limited - so you need to perform optimizations to speed things up so it's usable. These optimizations usually limit the flexibility of features like you're request…

Just having the option to specify "No left turns" would be immensely helpful.

I believe UPS has done this for years to streamline their delivery-truck routes, albeit probably not in real time.

Re: Most drivers who own cars with built-in GPS systems use phones for directions

#323

Post by kolinko »

gambiting wrote: post #306
Kadin wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were, until very recently, some roads in Montana that didn't have any speed limit during the day. They provided at least a legal justification that there was a legitimate on-road use case for going more than 85MPH. I believe Montana gave that up in the last few years, so there wouldn't be much of a case against putting an 85MPH governor in cars, except I guess against the possibility that some state might at so…

Poland has recently bumped up the speed limit on all motorways from 80 to 90mph(140km/h).

And you cannot be charged by going less than 10km/h above the limit, because you can't be expected to monitor your speed at all times.

And extra 10km/h to account for instrument / measurement errors. Giving it an enforcable maximum of 160km/h = 100 mph. Yay :D

Re: Most drivers who own cars with built-in GPS systems use phones for directions

#324

Post by lagadu »

brusch64 wrote: post #301
dreamcompiler wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main reason car companies don't put (un-overridable) governors for 85mph in cars is that their sales would instantly plummet. That said, all "fast" cars sold in the US do have governors at 140 mph if memory serves. The same car sold in Germany has no such governor.

As much as I remember there is a gentleman's agreement between the German car makers that they restrict the motor power after 300 km/h (about 190 mph). A teacher told me that this should be the velocity a normal untrained person is safe to drive on the German autobahn. They circumvent this with their own car tuners which release the cars without this restrictions (AMG for Mercedes Benz as an example)

It's 250km/h, not all makers do it and none of them (like you mentioned) do it for all the vehicles.

Re: Most drivers who own cars with built-in GPS systems use phones for directions

#325

Post by lagadu »

shalmanese wrote: post #266
copperx wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm honestly surprised they don't restrict that. Does anybody know why? I know different states have different speed limits, but I think a 85mph speed limit could cover them all. Is it because Canada and Mexico? They have lower speed limits. Is it because the car could be exported to Germany and driven on the Autobahn? or what?

I've always been puzzled as to why cars don't come with speed governing as a (default off) option. I'd love to be able to lend my car to my child with the max speed set to 60mph or govern my speed to 65 on long freeway trips so I don't have to constantly check my speedometer (this is different from cruise control because I could easily slow down below 65, just never go above it).

My car has that. I can configure one of the car keys to only allow a certain max speed whenever it's used with the car.

It's called valet mode IIRC.

Re: Most drivers who own cars with built-in GPS systems use phones for directions

#326

Post by lagadu »

lucaspiller wrote: post #178
sangnoir wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is it about American cars[1] and tiny rear view windows? I once got a Ford Fusion rental in the US; I was surprised how little I could see of what was behind me. I have never had the same issue with European/Japanese vehicles. 1. My sample size is small, I could have been unlucky. Anti-glare coating on rear view mirrors on American cars makess night-time driving awesome though, I wish the European/Japanese vehic…

> Anti-glare coating on rear view mirrors The technical term is an 'electrochromatic auto-dimming rear-view mirror'. It's been an option on higher end cars/trims for the last ~5 years, even in Europe. On eBay there are DIY kits too.

Not high-end at all, my Fiesta has it as standard.

It's a fantastic feature, it just annoys me that the sensor gets hit by the car ceiling lights when they're on, so if the light is on you get a completely dark mirror. I call it a quirk because it sounds better than "terrible design".

Re: Most drivers who own cars with built-in GPS systems use phones for directions

#327

Post by lagadu »

tormeh wrote: post #205
zeveb wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would new versions cause incompatibility? Because CarPlay in 2016 doesn't support the new hotness of 2018, because we are an industry of attention-deficit twentysomethings. Granted, were I forced to choose between attention-deficit twentysomethings and bureaucratic, glacial fiftysomethings … well honestly, I don't know which I'd choose.

I believe you're describing the choice between Tesla and Mercedes...

If you're describing mercedes as the glacial50somethings, you're not aware that more often than not Mercedes are the first to market with a huge amount of every feature imaginable in the history of automaking. Want to see what features regular cars will have in 10 years? Go check out an S class today.

Things like onboard navigation, voice controls, parking sensors? All 90s technology on the S class. Autopilot came before the Tesla's, radars, adaptive suspension, etc are all things from several years ago in the S class land.

They just use that line to showcase all the cool things that a car can do.

Re: Most drivers who own cars with built-in GPS systems use phones for directions

#328

Post by SixSigma »

jtolmar wrote: post #237
copperx wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm honestly surprised they don't restrict that. Does anybody know why? I know different states have different speed limits, but I think a 85mph speed limit could cover them all. Is it because Canada and Mexico? They have lower speed limits. Is it because the car could be exported to Germany and driven on the Autobahn? or what?

Briefly going faster than the regular flow of traffic is sometimes the best way to avoid an accident. But I think the real reason is that people would be very, very grumpy about that law and regulators need to pick their battles.

I'm quite sure going from 60mph to 140mph is unlikely to be accident avoiding

Re: Most drivers who own cars with built-in GPS systems use phones for directions

#329

Post by otempomores »

bvinc wrote: post #265

I had an interesting experience recently that I think summarizes this whole problem. I was in another city and rented a car and it came with navigation. I knew I could just use my phone, but I decided to use the navigation that the rental car came with, just for fun. 1. First, I knew the name of my hotel, but not the address. I tried to search the business directory. I had to input the CITY AND STATE, which is painfu…

You forgot the voice command excuse machine in every car. Im sorry.. I still did not understand...goodbye.

Re: Most drivers who own cars with built-in GPS systems use phones for directions

#330

Post by josephg »

stuffmatters wrote: post #313
Bud wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. It wasn't. And by the way, the iPhone 7 can still output to a 3.5mm aux jack just fine, which you probably already knew, or should know.

And then you can't charge it. Terrible trade-off.

I know its trendy right now to hate on the removal of the 35mm headphone jack but this comment is simply false. You can charge it while using the headphone jack - you just need a silly dongle or a dock to do it.

http://www.belkin.com/au/p/P-F8J198/

http://www.apple.com/au/shop/product/MGRM2AM/A/iphone-lightn...

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