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Most Drivers Who Own Cars With Built-in GPS Systems Use Phones For Directions - Mostly Out of Frustration (cnn.com)
According to a new survey, many new car owners use their phones for directions despite their cars coming with built-in navigation systems. These users do it out of frustration, the survey added. CNN adds: The market research firm J.D. Power and Associates surveyed owners of new vehicles after the first 90 days of ownership. They were asked about all kinds of new in-vehicle technology including navigation, entertainment and safety technologies like lane-keeping assistance and automatic braking. For the most part, the survey found, people are relatively satisfied with the technology in their cars. On a 1,000 point scale, the average satisfaction score was 730. Navigation systems rated the worst with an average score of 687. Almost two-thirds of new vehicle owners with a built-in navigation reported using their smartphone or a portable navigation device to find their way at least some of the time. Nearly a third of those with built-in navigation used it for less than two weeks before giving up on it and using their phone or another portable device, according to J.D. Power. And more than half of people with built-in navigation systems never used them at all, according to the survey.
Even more reason to skip in car gps option....
love is just extroverted narcissism
Open source that stuff so we code something usable for our cars.
Also, i shouldnt have to dig through on-screen menus to turn off the radio.
Where anyone with enough money to afford in car gps can buy a phone at half the cost and have it do more things, i'm surprised in car gps is even still an option.
Exactly. I keep my car for at least a decade, and information technology obsolesces much more quickly than that: Just give me a useful Bluetooth connection and let me use my phone for navigation and audio. In addition to continuously updated maps, a networked navigation app like Google Maps gives me real-time traffic, which I don't get with an offline nav system.
I can see why too. Using your phone is second nature, because you use it so often. But infotainment screens are built by third parties that have to follow different rules for safety, so they aren't as intuitive. And there's no real incentive to improve, as they aren't in the 'upgrade' market. For the most part, once you have the GPS unit in your car, you don't replace it. Phones get updated every two years, and the software is updated almost monthly (apps are at least). Why use something that is 'hard' to use, not updated, and doesn't work like you expect?
Just about anyone who owns a car will own at least one smartphone, so it is wasteful in the extreme both in dev hours and materials to duplicate this functionality poorly. Take it out and give users the option to roll their own solution with Waze/Garmin/Whatever.
Silence is a state of mime.
The built-in apps on the car don't always give you updates on traffic, and they most certainly don't give you updates on the locations of police.
Waze does.
There are long threads in vehicle forums, dedicated to hacking the OS of the console, so people can add their *own* apps and navigation systems.
Also, there's something very creepy about driving along, and hearing "Caution! Toll booth ahead!" coming out of your speakers, when you aren't using navigation at all.
Which is just one of the many reasons why forum modders work so hard to dump the stock OS.
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to learn how to run the stupid thing but I can't find them on the map and instead usually end up somehow accidentally subscribing for another 6 months of Sirius / XM.
"According to a new survey, many new card owners use their phones for directions" - I know when I'm driving my card .... WTF /.?
Technically, I use in car navigation but only through Android Auto. The native navigation works reasonably well and does have real-time traffic as long as I'm willing to pay for the built-in data link. However, the interface for its use is woefully inadequate and thus dangerous to use unless I'm at a full stop. As a Systems Engineer, I'm of course technically savvy but I am getting a little older and I have to wear glasses now. This leads me to what might be an overabundance of caution regarding fiddling with my gadgets and "infotainment" system while I'm driving. Thus, Android Auto and voice recognition comes to my rescue.
One day perhaps, in-car device developers and engineers will hire UI experts before the design process starts but I'll not hold my breath.
Charter Member of The Committee Group For The Elimination And Eradication Of Repetitive Redundancy
My girlfriend also has a built in navigation system, but it's absolutely rubbish so she uses her smart phone to find her way around.
I think a major issue is that it's easy and common to have contacts in your phone with addresses. People send you contacts that are fully populated with info, you can search in Maps and 'create new contact' from a result and it includes the address, etc. And you have it with you all the time so you can easily update it at your convenience. As opposed to a GPS built into a car, where you have to sit there in the car and punch the info in on the screen. You can only update it when you're sitting in the car and doing nothing else. And the UI to choose an existing location usually isn't that great.
On top of that, many (most?) car GPSs don't have Internet connections to show live traffic info, which is almost as important as knowing where you're going in the first place. In fact, more often than not, I use my phone to check traffic on the way to a known destination, which means the traffic info is MORE important than the actual directions 90% of the time. On top of worrying about out-of-date info and potentially expensive updates, it's pretty obvious why people prefer their phones.
I only ever use a standalone GPS when I'm going on a long trip (over an hour) to a new place and when traffic isn't a concern -- i.e., there's nothing else to do but stay on the highway and make my exit. THEN it's worth the time it takes to punch in the address because I get a screen that can stay on without tying up my phone. And even then I'll have the address ready in my phone, too, so I can check traffic as I get closer.
So it's not entirely that car GPS systems are totally bad -- they're just way worse (in practical terms) than phones.
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I use both in case I get a call while driving. My car's gps system in there is great, reports traffic, reroutes automatically and the updates are free. The problem is the address entry, it is a pain in the ass if you're going to a place you haven't before. The features in Waze are getting better and better so it is my go to. So why the hell don't they just put Waze in cars?
I fall into this group, and while the reason definitely involves "frustration", it has nothing to do with stupidity or difficulty learning the new system. Instead, I use my tablet for navigation in my car for one very, very trivial reason:
It doesn't lock me out of using it while moving!
Have you used phone navigation recently? Google not only tells me which side the lane is on, but will tell me which turn lane to use, if it matters.
For example, if I'm turning left and there are 3 left turn lanes, but will immediately after need to turn right, or otherwise be in the right lane, it will tell me to "use the 3rd turn lane from the left" or something like that.
In-car systems such as this are a hopeless battle. There is absurd vendor lock-in because there are a whole of 2-3 companies who have built a technology base big enough to be able to offer a system that can be custom assembled for a particular year and model of car. This will then be deployed in about 100,000 cars at best and will never ever be updated or serviced after about 6 months unless there is a vehicle safety issue.
I'm not sure what the exact solution is, but in one way or another there needs to be a mandatory open standard to allow a 3rd party device to show information on vehicle displays, receive input from vehicle control interfaces (steering wheel buttons, touchscreens, etc) and interact with other auxillary systems. We have things like CarPlay and Android Auto, but despite manufactures pledging broad support, very few cars are actually being sold with such capability.
Maybe I've been lucky with GPSes (GPI?) in cars but I find them to be really invaluable. Just for the record, I'm talking about a Toyota Prius Navigation (touch screen) and the Audi MMI Navigation Plus (input wheel that you can draw characters on). Both have voice input.
Interesting seeing the comments about update prices. For Toyota, I was quoted $3k CAN but the dealer could find it on a thumb drive and then it was free. Audi updates are free as part of regular maintenance. The Toyota maps, even though they were apparently updated to the current date never had a number of streets that were between five and ten years old. The Audi maps have streets that haven't been finished yet.
TFA discusses Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and neither work in the Prius. Android Auto is not available on the Audi and CarPlay sucks. I would love to plan out my route at home and then download the directions into the car.
Regardless, I find that when I'm on the road (a lot right now as I'm doing a startup), the GPS in the car is invaluable and I don't have to look down at my phone (which is a big fine/points here in Ontario) and I would recommend it for everybody.
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For directions I'm about half and half, phone and Nav. But I use my Nav system constantly to help me figure out better routes without ever using directions. It's just an overhead view that I can zoom in and out. Most of the time I don't need actual directions since I can just see where I am on a map that tracks my location. I've found so many nice routes simply from that God's eye capability.
Odd. BMW has had that for years - I had a 2008 335i with RTTI. Does Audi screw you by making it an option that has to be installed at time of vehicle delivery or something?
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I wonder how much this is to do with most people not knowing or just not doing updates to their in car Nav Systems, I usually hunt down the latest map packs ISO each year and any firmware updates and load them in. Personally I actually much prefer the in car Nav, Directions show up in front of me and it tends be more reliable than my Phone. Phone you tend to need to rely more on Voice which as my Wife found out was a nightmare recently after some road changes. Seeing a line drawing in front of me is much better than relying on a voice which can be very wrong when new roads open e.g. "At the roundabout take the first exit" becomes take the second exit with a new road, but a map in front of me I can instantly realise the voice is wrong.
This. In DC area traffic, Waze is great.
Stop being stupid and looking down at your printed directions when you should be looking at the road in front of you.
As I was writing the root post, I realized that I'm in something of the minority in terms of technical skills.
I suspect that people would use the GPS in their cars if they were more comfortable with using the electronics in the car including being able to connect the car to their phones via Bluetooth. Most non-/.ers generally get the dealership to do it when they take delivery and if there's a problem later or they change their phones, they do without. How many people do you see with earbuds in while driving or holding their phones in speaker mode up to their faces?
I tried to find a solid number on the number of people that have their phones paired to their cars and it seems to be something less than 10%. If people don't have the skills to pair their phone with their car, why would anybody expect them to use GPS?
Could this article be written by somebody who has no problems with technology and is surprised by the vast majority that do have problems?
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
My brother lent me his Mercedes C-class the other day. While it's a "nice car" the center console features a horrendous touch screen display. And you know what really surprised me? Just how slow it was, to the point of being painful. So even "luxury" cars get this wrong.
I really like OnStar, the directions are good, updates are not my issue and to boot I don't even need to know where I am to start with. Needless to say my innate sense of direction is poor. I am not sure what is wrong with me but I have always had a very poor sense of direction. I get involved in something and the next thing I know I am lost, again.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
I love how you neglect the "up front" costs of your printed up directions, like the computer, the internet connection, and the printer itself.
I do pretty much the same thing, except I write out my directions by hand after consulting Google Maps. Write it in a nice big size I can read at a glance.
If I miss a turn on the way, I can pull over and *then* consult Maps again.
Unity? Screw that: XFCE. Slashdot Beta? Screw that: SoylentNews. Australis? Screw that: Pale Moon. UX developers DIAF
So not...it is not.
I assume you are using some form of laser of bubble jet to do that printing, while it is attached to some fancy electrical thinger like a laptop or desktop (What are those now a days right?), running software that acts as a system to operate it....
Does it cost the same to do it in half dimes or shillings?
ummm no, then you have to stop and look at a piece of paper instead of listening to a voice telling you where to turn and an occasional quick glance at a screen mounted in front a giant window which also shows you the road.
As other have said it's the map update I rather not spend..
My built-in GPS works far more reliably... As the care ages, of course the UI ages as well...
Also I use phone GPS for real time traffic..
http://www.hawknest.com/
In Dallas I found that waze was great for a little while. During the time I was teaching my preferred routes which were much faster than its estimates suddenly lots of people looking at their phones started appearing on those routes and they stopped being much faster which in turn caused waze to start directing me down a long annoying route it thinks is a couple minutes faster but only because it always underestimates the delay of heavy traffic.
It sucks, I have to use waze as a defensive strategy now and there is no fast way to commute anymore, waze makes all the choices equally slow.
The firm surveyed owners of new vehicles
that's maybe why they don't use the navigation system, they didn't have time, yet, to figure out how that works.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
"Cost of a piece of paper+toner or ink: Less than a nickel."
Cost of the ticket you will get at the accident scene when Officer Friendly sees you were squinting at your treasure map when you ran the light - in many jurisdictions, priceless.
For some reason, my car's GPS display is always just blinking 12:00
Can you help me?
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
And furthermore, many of us are Space Nutters too.
Glad to hear it's gotten better. Our 2008 Passat Wagon had a fantastic looking and operating system that gave immediate directions, names and distances on the display in front of the wheel, and maps in the center console, but was DVD based - meaning that updates came every few YEARS and COST $200!!! And yeah, unless you sprung for a 6-disc changer, the GPS DVD took up the CD player slot in the dash as well...
"There are people who do not love their fellow human being, and I _hate_ people like that!" - Tom Lehrer
And car manufacturers are scared to death that their navigation systems could be implicated in an accident, so they deliberately neuter them so that they can't be used while the vehicle is in motion. What this means is that with two people in the car, the passenger can't look for food at a nearby exit unless you first pull over and come to a complete stop.
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I often go up into the mountains where cell phones don't work well or at all but GPS works just fine. Waze is the killer GPS app but it's no good if you don't have a signal.
No, that's when you pull over and look at the Thomas Guide.
have the same issue as you. The lockout is beyond excessive from a drivers perspective (it pretty much only lets you adjust the radio) but seriously.. if the passenger is doing the button pushing do i still need to come to a full stop?
isn't an antenna. It's a marker so drivers know where the vehicle "ends." real handy when trying to park in tight spaces.
GPS antenna are located either outside of the vehicle (integrated with AF/FM/satellite antenna) or some place not obstructed by the vehicle frame (under the dash, on a corner the windshield, etc.)
ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI!?
my PHONE, luddite.
Because you are that clever and important, Waze is copying YOU.
In other words, you taught the better routes to Waze and now it lets everyone know. I have discovered that in areas where few people drive with Waze it chooses main roads over back roads. It is only after I have driven to a destination over back roads a few times that it starts using those particular back roads.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
I can use my phone far more efficiently and safely than my cars nav system, which is, absolutely, clunky. But using a handheld device in the car is illegal here. So there is a huge incentive to choose the less safe option to avoid an expensive ticket.
Good intentions and unintended consequences and all that.
A split calf!
"Trump!!", the new Godwin.
I do quite a bit of travelling down two-lane paved roads in the middle of nowhere. I also have a Garmin, and it's pretty good.
It's brilliant at ETA, I have to admit. What pisses me off, though, is when it decides RR #2 doesn't exist, because it thinks it should be called RR 2 or R Route #2 or something silly like that. It happens to me fairly often.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
This is why I'm glad I have a car with Android Auto in it, so I can hook up my phone to the car and get the information on my screen. Now, if Google will hurry up with the Waze support that they promised earlier this year....
Probably not a European one. Try London - from day to day the one way streets get reversed, random streets are blocked off either for road repairs or permanently, and accidents can block areas of several square miles for hours on end. Printed maps are useless within minutes of being printed.
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My wife absolutely LOVES using the GPS in her Tesla. It routes and re-routes the car based on traffic. In addition, it gives it verbally, as well as lays out the map on the main screen, along with the dashboard display.
There is NOTHING else on the market that even comes close to how user-friendly the Tesla GPS is.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
yeah, my wife is sold on Tesla GPS. Prior to her buying it, she tried her iphone from work, her personal android, and even bought a seperate GPS (i forget which one). In the end, she always had me give her directions. Not any more. Now, all she wants is her tesla. And just to go a lousy 5, or even 50 miles, she will use that. it is almost insane.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
For a unit worth about $250.
FTFY
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Well, to be perfectly honest, I did have the opportunity to get this model car without a GPS, if I were willing to lose a lot of other features with it and special-order it from the manufacturer.
The maker only offered the advanced "Safety and Collision-Avoidance" features as part of the "Technology" package that also included the NAV system, an upgraded audio system and heated seats. The tweeters are nice, but trust me, I really don't care about having a built-in GPS or heated seats. (And satellite radio. A complete waste with all of the tunnels and parking garages and tall buildings that I have to deal with.) Round here, an alarm that sounds when the driver next to you starts swinging into your lane without a signal is priceless.
And on top of that, no dealer in the region stocks that model vehicle without the Technology package, so if I were okay losing every safety feature of the car that made it worth the premium price just to ditch the GPS then I'd have to find a dealer willing to order one for me and wait up to several months for it to ship from the factory.
Between the two, it just seemed better to take the silly NAV that they were throwing in.
I use Waze for navigation. A 3rd party magnetic mount on my dash holds my cell phone at the perfect spot on the dash, above and to the left of the steering wheel where my peripheral vision catches it and I don't have to take my eyes off the road.
The built-in GPS is roughly centered on the dash below the windshield. Very hard to see without turning my head and looking down. And with roads constantly changing around here for construction, it's not really useful at all.
try a tesla. They got it right.
And compared to BMW, MB, Lexus, etc. those are PURE CRAP.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
even goolge can be slow it took them 6mo+ for I-355 I-80 to I-55 to show up after it opened.
I'm new to Dallas, so thanks for the Waze routes. Preston northbound to the Bush was always 15 minutes to go two or three miles. Now Waze sends me over to Campbell, which saves several minutes.
Just print your directions out ahead of time and use that. Then you're not squinting at some tiny little screen when you should be paying attention to the road, or having to futz with something mounted in your dash to do the same.
I agree with that in principle because what I do is look at the map and memorize the path to where I'm going.
What the nav system does that is actually useful is call out the approaching turns. In many places the intersecting street signs are either not visible or non-existing, and even if present there's no way to see them in time if you're driving over 25 mph.
Also, on highways its common for a highway to have a second name like "Bubba Burger Highway" and that's what the posted sign says at the intersection, but your map says "Highway 58" and that's what you're looking for, so while driving it's not obvious that you've come to the intersection you need. The GPS doesn't really use either name, it just knows you need to turn there and calls out whatever name it knows.
Wow. Blast from the past. I'd forgotten about those. :)
-- sigs cause cancer.
With my in dash GPS system I have to pay to keep the maps updated, I have to pay to get real-time traffic through Sirius (which is literally hours delayed), I have to pay pay pay.. Or I just open my phone and get all that for FREE. Seems like a no-brainer. Though my car's system does have Pandora integration, and I find myself using Pandora exclusively now because of how simple and easy it is to use. So if they could eliminate all the damn costs, and give me the same experience as my phone, I'd be willing to use it.
Cocky! I was going to challenge you to try this in London, but I see somebody already beat me to it.
I cycle in the inner city every day. I'm good with maps, I have a good sense of direction and spacial awareness... more than 30 minutes studying a new route in Google Maps and examining StreetView to identify and memorise my landmarks for turns and I will still get lost or have to stop frequently to check my phone. Major routes on the map turn out to look minor in real life and you blow past them very quickly. You make a turn in the wrong place and "it feels like" it's going the right way but before you know it you're actually going perpendicular to the route you wanted.
London isn't unique by old world city standards, although it is failrly large. N. American driving is such a breeze in comparison.
Yup. I love waze for routes I'm less sure about and when I actually need directions but I wish I'd never used it for the drive in to the office ;)
To be fair, a computer does have other costs. It's typically a sunk cost for most people.
Although I guess you can say that for a phone as well.
Aside from all the issues posted already, the big issue for me is that the in car GPS is stuck in the car. The sort of times when I really need navigation assistance is when I am working in an unfamiliar location. Moving between client sites for example - I can be in the office, ask someone where the next meeting is, and get it into Waze there and then. One a number of occasions I've said to someone "is this it?" and showed them the screen only for them to point out that I have entered the site on the wrong side of town. If I was doing this in the car (on my own), I'd end up at the wrong place.
At the other end (and I accept that is is probably more of a European problem than a US one), it is pretty common to be parking some distance from where you actually want to be. With the phone, this is no problem, I walk with it, and my robot overlord tells me to "turn left at the end of the road". In car GPS - not so good.
I also end up driving multiple cars - hire cars, my own car, my wife's car - I don't have the time or the enthusiasm to learn how to drive the complex & infuriating in car Nav systems, the phone does it fine.
I have a Tomtom.
The UI/UX is from the stone age. I'm actually glad it doesn't require punch-cards or something.
Turn-by-turn audio is broken and unsuable. The particular model I have (got it as a present) was shipped in an early beta state and has a solid 3 stars on amazon, which basically means it's officially a piece of sh*t.
The only three things these devices have going for them are full screen lane-assist with countryside detail included - a thing I *do* miss with Google Navigate - relatively solid cases and useful attachment systems for the windscreen. The one from Tomtom is actually quite well done. Could be better, but quite OK non-the-less.
My Moto G2 OTOH runs Android Marshmallow and has a a navigation system with Google Maps + Navigate, I can just tell it where I want to go without taking my hands of the wheel and it's navigation is among the very best in first world countries. The display and the variations it offers is top notch aswell. The turn-by-turn audio doesn't lag a bit and announces just at the right time.
Oh, and I can use it with my bike, while walking - I actually use it more often on the bike and when walking - and for public transport, with the navigation variants selectable with one touch. ... And that it has a phone and a camera and all that built in we know already.
Bottom line:
GPS Navis are a niche market or throw-away devices for roughshod use in fringe cases and no where near compareable to modern smartphones with armies of experts toiling away at UX, AI features and performance. I think it's safe to say that they are on their way out. And yes, that includes BMWs clunky and awkward built-in middle-console click-wheel gadget for entering destinations they tried to sell as some luxury-car UX innovation a few years back (no joke).
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
2015 Audis sold in the USA with MMI 3G+ navigation have real time traffic data via SiriusXM, the car should have come with a 4 year complimentary subscription.
This is true for me, with my Acura. Their navigation system positively sucks; it's more like a clunky video game from the 80's and is utterly useless.
Will give you the best of both worlds.
I have a 2010 Prius with navigation. Updates are $200 a pop, released once a year or so. I've always thought it was silly to have a table like interface in a car. I never gets updated. Since everyone already has a smart phone or tablet, why not just have an app that links the car and performs all the same options as that silly, buggy touch screen (read about Fords mess). Entertainment, HVAC, all those options could be controlled on the smartphone and just build a mount rather than an obsolete when sold display.
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I have the pile of feces known as Toyota Entune in my new Tacoma. I rarely use it. I dream of the day Toyota supports Carplay or Android auto.
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I take surveys for pay, for fun mostly, and for a bit of extra cash. Sometimes I get interesting surveys about new products, mostly it's boring demographics and junk. I've done enough surveys now to immediately recognize that certain sites will waste my time with lengthy irritating questions about crap I don't care about, and/or just throw me out without pay after way more time than would be reasonable. J.D. Power is one of those. When I see a survey is hosted by J.D. Power, I just close it immediately.
From what I've seen if you want any tech you MUST get the manufacturer provided Nav which is usually sub par. That of course artificially inflates the package price but unless you want to give up the other tech features, sometimes as mundane as bluetooth or even aux in, you must pay and take it as part of the package. I like the idea of CarPlay or AndroidAuto that allows the phone to provide the interface. That way the tech can evolve along with your phone, however the car makers seem to always bundle that with their overpriced, underperforming Nav system just to keep their vig.
It wasn't as good. One time it routed me where I'd have to drive across a guy's lawn to get to the other road. It didn't want to let anyone work with it while the car was in motion so my wife couldn't set the next stop while I was driving. Just a lot of really annoying things, and this was with the latest update. I don't own that car anymore, it was totaled.
Use waze, it's WAY better. Did I mention it's WAY better? Well it's WAAAAY better!
I swapped the old head unit for an android one and use Here Maps. The downside is the receiver does not receive ota traffic updates using TMC or TPEG like more expensive units.