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

money.cnn.com

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

#331

Post by lagadu »

u801e wrote: post #283
korethr wrote: post #144

As a counterpoint to the comments here bringing up the point that the maps on one's phone are always up to date, I'll bring up the point of offline access. Yes, often the maps are bad, out of date, and require one to go the dealer and pay money to get an update. However, once out of the city, and cellular data ceases to be a thing, Google maps and similar applications built with an assumption of an always-available I…

> However, once out of the city, and cellular data ceases to be a thing, Google maps and similar applications built with an assumption of an always-available Internet connection become kind of useless. Yes, you can add maps for the areas you are planning to be to your offline areas, but that requires planning ahead. And if you ended up somewhere you didn't plan to be, well, good luck. I'm one of the few who still use…

It also exists for Android and iOS now. Offline navigation included.

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

#332

Post by lagadu »

anindha wrote: post #81

Why not just have a nice phone holder built into cars rather than these systems. It would integrate with the speaker/mic in the car and charge my phone.

And what interface would it have? Apple 30-pin? Lightning? Micro-usb? usb-c? Does it have room for 3.5 to 6 inch phones?

Integration with speaker/mic is already done via bluetooth but charging is still a problem.

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

#333

Post by dingaling »

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…

> and my phone has no problems finding GPS and I have navigation instructions pulled up in about 5 seconds.

That's because your phone isn't actually using GPS ( e.g. Navstar or Glonass ) at that point, it's using cell triangulation or wifi-based location.

For example the fastest possible first-fix with Navstar from a warm-start, using cached prior-location and ephemerides, is 30 seconds[0]. From a cold ( position-unknown ) start, such as a car nav-system powered-down in a parking-lot for an extended period, the first-fix will take longer than 12 minutes. There is no technological way around that, it is an artifact of the system architecture.

[0] and that's for a top-end receiver than can sync to four satellites 'simultaneously' using time-division.

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

#334

Post by lagadu »

zeveb wrote: post #135

My issue isn't so much the pain of entry — although it is a pain — as the fact that Google Maps provides better directions, taking into account current traffic conditions, than my car's system. OTOH, my car's system knows about highway amenities like food & gas, and has a neat feature where it displays a preview of what certain turns look like. I would love to integrate them somehow.

Discrete GPS units do all that. I use a tomtom go6100 for all my navigation needs, it's unmatched at its job.

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

#335

Post by 3pt14159 »

tomascot wrote: post #235
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?

There are situations when going above the speed limit could save your life, at least where I live. It could be for passing or to escape from a robbery

Sure, but going higher than say 150 km/h for more than 10 seconds the car could phone that in and you'd have to justify it to the police or face a steep fine.

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

#336

Post by awesomerobot »

sbuttgereit wrote: post #130
tdkl wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I pay hundreds of $currency for a new head unit or thousands for a new car, if I'm already walking around with a device capable doing all that? Android Auto/Car play should just run as a dedicated mode on the phone.

Yep. A better approach these days would be to have the car dash component simply be a display/remote control surface for the phone rather than have all the software in the car. I appreciate that approach has certain disadvantages for device and car makers, but really, the only additional value they could add from my perspective is a more convenient display location and larger, car-centric controls. The apps, the conf…

I actually looked for a double-din touch screen with a HDMI input and audio out... and nothing else (couldn't find it).

Anything I connect to that system would be categorically better than any OEM car interface.

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

#337

Post by panic »

dingaling wrote: post #333
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…

> and my phone has no problems finding GPS and I have navigation instructions pulled up in about 5 seconds. That's because your phone isn't actually using GPS ( e.g. Navstar or Glonass ) at that point, it's using cell triangulation or wifi-based location. For example the fastest possible first-fix with Navstar from a warm-start, using cached prior-location and ephemerides, is 30 seconds[0]. From a cold ( position-unk…

How often do cars change position while powered down? That is, why not always (even on "cold start") use the last known position as a starting guess? How do phones get GPS-quality location data even immediately after being rebooted?

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

#338

Post by chrismbarr »

I remember seeing my dad drive his brand new BMW 5 series with a beautiful widescreen display in the dash. The screen has a little shelf under it, so it was the perfect place to set his iPhone with the directions he actually wanted to follow. The built in GPS essentially provided the same directions, but the UX of the phone apps and the audible directions are just so much better.

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

#339

Post by pluma »

userbinator wrote: post #274
bsder wrote: post #155

How about: "Can't set new route while car is in motion?" If you ever block me from doing something on a computer that I know it can do , I will hate you forever. You know, I might have a passenger who could work the nav system, but, oh, no, the car is moving so you can't enter a new destination. So many people disabled this "feature" on the Prius nav system that Toyota removed the ability to disable it . I kid you no…

"You know, I might have a passenger who could work the nav system, but, oh, no, the car is moving so you can't enter a new destination." I'd prefer to call the person there the "first officer" or "copilot", as "passenger" seems more... passive.

In German the passenger (front right seat) is actually called the "co-driver" (Beifahrer) and there is a cultural expectation to assist the driver with things like reading maps or passing drinks/food or even looking out for directional signs.

There is no such expectation for "guests" on the backseat(s), so this is a pretty distinct role.

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

#340

Post by DoofusOfDeath »

bsder wrote: post #155

How about: "Can't set new route while car is in motion?" If you ever block me from doing something on a computer that I know it can do , I will hate you forever. You know, I might have a passenger who could work the nav system, but, oh, no, the car is moving so you can't enter a new destination. So many people disabled this "feature" on the Prius nav system that Toyota removed the ability to disable it . I kid you no…

I assume Toyota made this choice to reduce exposure to torte lawsuits.

If so, then perhaps the real blame lies with legislators. They could revise torte law so that drivers, not manufacturers, are the ones responsible for the safe operation of a vehicle. But apparently legislators are unwilling to make such changes.

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