Is my Sat Nav smarter than I thought?

[Richard46]

Was driving home (East London) from visiting Mother in Saffron Walden last night. I always drive down to the Stansted junction (J8) of the M11 which takes me down to the North Circular. I am almost certain I had set the Sat Nav for home via J8 as always.
Well when I got a mile or so from J8 (around Stansted Mountfitchet) I noticed the Nav was telling me to take the A120 to loop around Bishops Stortford and down to Harlow which is a longer route on slower roads. I assumed some kind of glitch and ignored it only to find that the M11 was shut both ways (Horses loose on the carriageway apparently with miles of tailbacks). So retraced steps and followed Sat Nav route down to J7 were the S bound was open.
Now was this some fluke or does the sat nav automatically respond to radio TA warnings? I don't have Connect just a standard Sat Nav.

 

[alpesh26]

It has a traffic function so it will re-route you if it detects traffic on your route. It usually tells you when it's doing this unless it knew there was already traffic when you set the route

 

[Richard46]

It has a traffic function so it will re-route you if it detects traffic on your route. It usually tells you when it's doing this unless it knew there was already traffic when you set the route

Thanks for that, I will take it seriously next time the Sat Nav changes route. When on a often used route (not often enough I hear my Mother say) I have the Nav voice turned off which may account for me no getting any other warning. Notice of the closure was on the warning message list when I checked it but I did not realise it automatically linked to route guidance. Very useful.

I wonder if the fact that it was not just heavy traffic but a total road closure flagged it for a complete route chnge.

 

[wab172uk]

Most annoying thing about Audi SatNav's it the constant "Keep right" when approaching a motorway slip road. It says it twice, then starts saying keep on this road etc. All the time while talking over the music.

Just tell me when I need to come off *** !

 

[HertS3]

I was driving in central London recently and Waze didn't divert me round a closed road - very annoying! Also kept trying to take me back to it when I was trying to get around it.

 

[AlS3BE]

Most annoying thing about Audi SatNav's it the constant "Keep right" when approaching a motorway slip road. It says it twice, then starts saying keep on this road etc. All the time while talking over the music.

Just tell me when I need to come off *** !

They are all like that including google maps.

one thing to be aware of for non connect traffic update is that it uses the radio and I think you must be able to receive bbc radio 1 or something like that.
Connect users must have mobile reception otherwise it’s useless too.

I was driving in central London recently and Waze didn't divert me round a closed road - very annoying! Also kept trying to take me back to it when I was trying to get around it.

this is the councils fault to not registering the road works. There’s been load of roadworks in Edinburgh since Monday and they only appeared today. Sat nav thinks they are open and free of traffic so tried to route you that way.
Waze is owned by google now so it’s probably same data used for google maps.

 

[HertS3]

It is indeed but also receives massive amount of data from users; it knew about the roadworks but didn't seem to know that the road was actually closed

 

[Ormesome]

I think the traffic alerts or rerouting can be set to be automatic which is what must have happened to you. In my car I have it set to alert me and then I can choose, this means I can see the delay and the route without thinking it’s going mental!

 

[JohnM100]

As AIS3BE states, ‘normal’ SatNav without Connect still receives TMC traffic data via radio - it used to be transmitted alongside ClassicFM but is received automatically.

It tends to only cover significant traffic issues and is limited to trunk roads / motorways and does have a latency so there will be a delay in reporting issues as well as the ‘all clear’.

In SatNav view, the MMI has a Traffic virtual button / menu option so you can read the list of reports it has received.

 

[TYb]

Was driving home (East London) from visiting Mother in Saffron Walden last night. I always drive down to the Stansted junction (J8) of the M11 which takes me down to the North Circular. I am almost certain I had set the Sat Nav for home via J8 as always.
Well when I got a mile or so from J8 (around Stansted Mountfitchet) I noticed the Nav was telling me to take the A120 to loop around Bishops Stortford and down to Harlow which is a longer route on slower roads. I assumed some kind of glitch and ignored it only to find that the M11 was shut both ways (Horses loose on the carriageway apparently with miles of tailbacks). So retraced steps and followed Sat Nav route down to J7 were the S bound was open.
Now was this some fluke or does the sat nav automatically respond to radio TA warnings? I don't have Connect just a standard Sat Nav.

They were girlfriends best friends horses that caused that. She was transporting some ex racers and one broke through the trailer window, must have spooked and freaked out.

Neither made it out onto the motorway but they had to close it just in case they escaped when being cut lose.

We had similar when our lorry had a blow out, police closed a large A road because they couldn’t risk the horse breaking lose when we moved him onto a trailer.

 

[Richard46]

They were girlfriends best friends horses that caused that. She was transporting some ex racers and one broke through the trailer window, must have spooked and freaked out.

Neither made it out onto the motorway but they had to close it just in case they escaped when being cut lose.

We had similar when our lorry had a blow out, police closed a large A road because they couldn’t risk the horse breaking lose when we moved him onto a trailer.

Thanks for that info, hope the horse survived. Could not find any stories about exactly what had happened. Odd thing is while searching for the story discovered that the M11 was closed in May last year because 12 horses did get on the motorway at about the same place, near Harlow.
A friend of mine used to keep her horse at a stable very near there I was wondering if they had broken out from there or another near by stable.

 

[TYb]

Thanks for that info, hope the horse survived. Could not find any stories about exactly what had happened. Odd thing is while searching for the story discovered that the M11 was closed in May last year because 12 horses did get on the motorway at about the same place, near Harlow.
A friend of mine used to keep her horse at a stable very near there I was wondering if they had broken out from there or another near by stable.

Yeh both absolutely fine luckily. Oh dear, they are good escape artists

 

[Ormesome]

Can any of your guys tell me if there is lane guidance on the sat nav (with virtual cockpit). ie. pointers to show you which lane to be in on a motorway?

yes it does. It has a little box with lanes in it and highlights the correct lane to be in. I’m not sure if it’s on the VC side too but defo the MMI. Other than this, the big direction arrow tells you the normal route and direction which includes roundabouts and crossing etc

 

[TYb]

A really good app to use is Waze, it’s speed camera info is brilliant, it gives pot hole updates, all the data is provided by users so is as live as it gets.

A user flagged a police car sat on the motorway the other day with a sped gun, saved me 3 points.

 

[Ormesome]

What year is your car mate, and do you have VC? The only thing that shows in the MMI for me in the next 3 upcoming turns. Haven't spotted any lane guidance yet . (2020 RS3).

Mine is a Q2 with VC and tech pack. should be the same tech as in the A3. It's a small box that pops up and displays the lane to take on motorways. It is shown here in the photo below. Not my car but a google search came up with it. Also, there is an additional box that pops up in the middle, under the song list normally which gives info for the lane departure, a bit like a miniature version of the right hand side one. Sorry, i coudlnt get a better photo, not doing any motorway driving for a bit so tricky to get a proper photo.