Last night I had the unenviable task of getting from our offices in lovely Santa Monica clear across town to Silver Lake, during the oxymoronically named "rush hour." This endeavor involves no fewer than 3 freeways. So I wavered between two freeway routes and then ended up sticking with the one I always use. But in a discussion with techno whiz-kid Brian Moody, he suggested I see if our long-term 2007 Infiniti G35 Sport has real-time traffic.
It does...
Bear in mind that this photo was shot this morning. Last night it was "Traffic congestion" all through the screen, so I'm not sure how effective it is at a time like rush hour, where everything's backed up like Depardieu after 3 plates of ravioli. On the way home, it noted exit ramp closures and construction, since there wasn't much traffic that late. All good stuff to know.
My only source of confusion is very nitpick-y. I was on the 10 East, and I crossed the 405 (N/S). If I was past the 405 and heading away from it, why was it still giving me 405 readings? It would be more intuitive to have those on the list, but lower priority. I was still getting 10 East, 10 West, and both directions of 405. I would think that the top 5 or so listings would all concern the road I was driving on and in the right direction.
I know this is a silly point, but if a nav system knows you're on a particular road, and beeps if you miss your ramp, why wouldn't the traffic update have that same sense, and give you what you needed. A very minor complaint indeed.
Doug Lloyd, Senior Copy Editor @ 11,958 miles
elbee says:
04:04 PM, 11/ 7/07
I've got enough cash thanks....Oh I'm sorry I thought you were an ATM machine..
stovt001 says:
04:09 PM, 11/ 7/07
I don't think thats a minor complaint. It seems it wouldn't be hard to program a feature like that into the unit, so it should be there.
banhugh says:
07:08 AM, 11/ 8/07
cars are more like money pits than an ATM machines :)
nwfmlymn says:
07:59 AM, 11/ 8/07
While electronics are much more user friendly and reliable than ever before, I do agree with your comment and think it's symptomatic of a general lack of engineering the car as a whole--with all of its parts and features considered in relation to each other. Another minor example--if rain-sensing windshield wipers are activated, shouldn't the headlights also come on automatically? I'm all for being able to deactivate such automatic features, but I think the options should be there.
sumimasen says:
09:41 AM, 11/ 8/07
The navigation system only beeps and lets you know you've missed your turn if you have a route programmed. In these pictures it appears you don't have a route and destination, therefore the system doesn't know where you're trying to go. I think it may display different information if you have an active destination. If someone gets jammed in traffic and starts looking for alternatives, they might want to know about a potential alternative that's behind them. If the system doesn't know where you're going, it can't tell if that alternative is relevant or not.
funkymunky says:
10:48 AM, 11/ 8/07
Sumimasen:
That is an excellent point, and one I considered. I'm saving that experiment for another day. I'll program a route into the nav, then check traffic info and see if it takes out (or at least moves to low priority) irrelevant roads.
actualsize says:
02:15 PM, 11/ 8/07
The wiper example is a good one - and not just from the standpoint of convenience. Here in California, the law has required the use of headlights whenever the wipers are on since 2005. But it only applies to "continuous use", not intermittent use. I spoke to a legal eagle at AAA and asked him if DRLs fulfill the requirement. Nope. Headlights are brighter and turning them on also illuminates the taillights - a key difference.
Still, despite oodles of electronics, I've seen very few new cars that have the capability to support this feature, rain-sensing or not.
SubyTrojan says:
04:13 PM, 11/ 8/07
That's an interesting tidbit about DRLs not satisfying the requirement, Dan. Thanks!
1487 says:
11:06 AM, 11/ 9/07
its a handy feature as long as you have viable alternative routes to work. If your only logical choice is a packed highway its not going to do much good. They have a constantly updating traffic channel on XM radio for most major cities. Not as fancy as this but it kind of does the same thing and I assume both get their info from the same sources.