tesla

I live on Long Island and drive to and from Manhattan and Queens regularly. I have found the traffic data displayed on the Nav map to be highly unreliable. I thought the real-time data was partly derived from transponders in taxis, trucks, delivery services, etc. Why is the data so unreliable, then?

I have learned to completely disregard the black arrows (or lack of them) when planning a route. I will probably soon turn off the service in iDrive so it doesn't distract me.

Has anyone found the traffic info to be useful?

yayankee

Better to listen to the traffic reports from CBS or WINS

seventhirteen

I live in the Puget Sound area and have found it somewhat useful. I usually only pay attention to it when the traffic info icon has the red triangle indicating big delays somewhere.

As I understand, it takes 5-10 minutes for information to be updated, not quite real time but better than nothing. Like any new technology it will likely get better over time. I have seen it tell me to re-route due to an accident, but the accident was already clear and traffic was moving. I do wish there was a setting to say only attempt to re-route when the delay is 5, 10, 15, 30 minutes. I don't remember what the default is but I think it's 5 minutes. Would be nice if that was user selectable.

JSpira

Actually I have found it to be accurate although having the information may or may not be of value.

For example, when I was driving from Munich to Hamburg, I was warned of a significant traffic problem ahead - and given the opportunity to reroute. The problem is that the rerouting would take me off an Autobahn and onto a Landstra?e (not even a Bundesstra?e). So I tried the rerouting and ended up getting back on the Autobahn and dealing with the very slow traffic.

On the other hand, I was driving on the Long Island Autobahn when I got a warning that the road was closed ahead. Indeed, it was and I exited in time and later heard on the radio that the road had been closed due to a severe accident.

My take is that this is useful information to have but you cannot rely upon it 100% (just like radio traffic reports - sometimes they are an hour behind in reporting that a stoppage has cleared etc.)

Richard in NC

I have found it to be useful in Charlotte but it tends to "cry wolf" at times. I read that it picks up the information from digital broadcasts from local radio. I-77 in the morning is always crowded and slow. I almost always see the triangles. It shows enough information (expected delay, cause, etc) to make a judgement call on avoding the route. When programming work as a destination, I have seen it show an odd route due to an incident. The other morning, I ignored the advice and found I-77 to be no worse than normal.

1600

Even within the NYC area,I find realtime traffic info reliable, but what device in our region can truly do the job all the time? Outside NYC it is extremely useful.
So in conclusion, I'd say it is far better than a coin toss.

bmw_wpq31

At least you guys have your sat nav 'traffic info' working...in my country, 'traffic info' in my country doesn't even work...everytime i go to traffic info menu, it displays & remarks 'currently no reception'... :thumbsdown:

Richard in NC

It's definately useful where available but that is still limited. Here is a link to the coverage areas in the US: BMW USA RTTI

Russ1974

The problem I have is that only major routes show traffic problems. So it says "reroute?" and hit yes, on to a road that looks clear - only to find that it's just as bad as the road you were on (often worse), but there is no traffic monitoring there.

I find the traffic warnings useful to tell me I'm going to be home late, but not for rerouting.

Casper

I find the information reliable, but not for re-routing. From home to the office I take the Palmetto and is always congested, the system tells me and offers to re-route, I never do.

Yesterday, driving I-95 south of Fort Lauderdale, system told me there was heavy traffic, and I was already in it, almost to a stop, so I re-routed, it ended up being even worse, so , the info is valid, but I won't let the system decide for me , I will never again re-route.