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Prius nav > "OK Google", Maps, Chrome

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Main Forum' started by dslomer64, Nov 27, 2017.

  1. dslomer64

    dslomer64 Member

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    I won't say I've sworn off Google entirely, but after great frustration (not hearing instructions but car audio goes off while instructions are being transmitted) over the weekend, I finally gave Navigation a try and was impressed. Whether getting instructions to nearest quick meal or finding my way out of Louisville, Navigation did a perfect job.

    Google still has it beat in the two-way communication category, when I can hear it. It often displays, "Sending audio to dslomer@...", which never arrives.

    I'm often in places where I have to turn all audio off. If I then start driving with Entune Bluetooth music playing and then ask Google for directions, I can't hear because Bluetooth has taken the spot where music volume--currently at zero--is normally found. So I have to temporarily disable Bluetooth, at which point the music volume slider becomes available. After raising it, Google becomes audible. If I then turn Bluetooth back on, I can hear music, and directions, which usually, but not always come out of just the phone, not the car speakers.

    So there's why I'm going to have to give Prius Navigation a real try.

    If anyone can follow the above, maybe you have helpful advice about Google or Android or Entune or Toyota or ... to solve my Google problems.

    Dave Slomer, 2017 Four

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #1 dslomer64, Nov 27, 2017
  2. bbald123

    bbald123 Thermodynamics Law Enforcement

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    I use Waze over bluetooth exclusively. I travel in areas with bad and dynamic traffic. The traffic feature on the built-in Nav is simply not real-time enough for my needs.
     
    #2 bbald123, Nov 28, 2017
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  3. dslomer64

    dslomer64 Member

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    Changed my mind. Can't trust Prius "Navigation".

    1) Wanted to take me a couple of miles out of my way to drive home from nearby doctor. After I ignored request to "after a quarter mile, turn right", I turned left into my subdivision.

    2)On the way up the hill, "Next left" would have taken me up a street that's been closed three years.

    3) And the clincher: yesterday TWICE told me to "turn right... Then make a U-turn" instead of saying "turn left".

    For all its quirks, Google maps is FAR better.

    I'll try Waze since it comes highly recommended.

    (Wonder if I can change title...)

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #3 dslomer64, Dec 19, 2017
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  4. padroo

    padroo Senior Member

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    I must say, after two Garmin's and my second nav built into a Prius that I still have not mastered it. I don't use it on a regular basis to the point of really mastering it. Mostly I am talking about making it take me the way I want to go and not the way it wants to take me.
     
    #4 padroo, Dec 19, 2017
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  5. RCO

    RCO Senior Member

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    In the real world, all satellite navigation should be used as a recommended route to follow, not a command to be obeyed. A driver must make on the fly route decisions based on what is seen ahead and road signage.
     
    #5 RCO, Dec 20, 2017
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  6. Sam Spade

    Sam Spade Senior Member

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    +1
    I like the spoken commands BUT.......recently have found that I must glance at the map when in an unfamiliar area and it says "keep right".
    In a number of cases, the display clearly indicates KEEP LEFT and I have yet to have the display be wrong.
     
    #6 Sam Spade, Dec 20, 2017
  7. thunderstruck

    thunderstruck Active Member

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    Sometimes Waze is wrong too. For those of going through downtown Cincinnati, Waze says to keep left when you are going down Fort Washington way to get to I-71 north, when the lanes are clearly marked that you have to stay right to get to 71 north.
     
    #7 thunderstruck, Dec 20, 2017
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  8. pilotgrrl

    pilotgrrl Senior Member

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    The built-in Prius nav is right turn-centric. It prefers you make a U-turn so you can make a right turn into the destination, rather than a left turn. Apparently, it doesn't know whether there are left turn arrows at traffic lights.

    Wish I could beta test the cloud version of the Entune 3.0 nav. I'd hope it would have some AI so it could learn, based on real world driving experience.

    Toyota Nav Lady and I are good friends. If she didn't tell me where to go and how to get there around here, I wouldn't be able to get anywhere. Besides, I like her voice better than Google Maps.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #8 pilotgrrl, Dec 20, 2017
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  9. RCO

    RCO Senior Member

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    Seems to me that Waze is the only Nav app to learn from precedent, but good luck.
     
    #9 RCO, Dec 20, 2017
  10. dslomer64

    dslomer64 Member

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    It's only been a few months since my original msg about the Prius Nav system being better than Google Maps.

    WRONG!!

    So I gave Waze a try.

    NO!!

    Sure Waze has some nice features but Google Maps wins. I can talk to Googlette and she understands and can carry out commands far better than Waze. She gives me traffic warnings from the outset and three times took me on routes to my usual places that passed through rarely-traveled neighborhoods and stretches of interstate, saving much time.

    So I take it back. If there's a better nav app out there than Google Maps, show us.

    (How could I ever have thought Prius Nav was good?)

    P.S. Googlette isn't perfect. Far from it. But dang good.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #10 dslomer64, Feb 27, 2018
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  11. pilotgrrl

    pilotgrrl Senior Member

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    In a better world, some of these things could talk to each other and learn from one another.

    I'm not saying AI should run unfettered, footloose and fancy free, but nav systems, mapping systems and traffic systems should be able to talk amongst themselves and give us the best routes.

    They should also learn from what we do when we override their bad choices by driving around them.

    Sometimes, it's more like artificial stupidity.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #11 pilotgrrl, Feb 27, 2018
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  12. pilotgrrl

    pilotgrrl Senior Member

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    I've found that Toyota Nav Lady is right-turn centric, even when a protected left arrow is coming up and will effect the same result, often to better effect at least in my area.

    Traffic engineering around here is such that they've shortened yellow lights and put red light cameras in at almost all intersections in Plano to prevent accidents. The signs at the city limits say, among other things, a red light enforcement community n

    At any given intersection, usually one side gets the green arrow first and the other side gets it later, unless the flashing yellow arrow is on, which means you can turn left if there's no oncoming traffic, even if your side of the intersection has the red light.

    This may be true elsewhere in Texas, but I don't know. Natives tend to drive large vehicles very fast. There is a preponderance of Stupid Utility Vehicles and Monstrous Trucks. Off roading the Nordstrom parking lot is rough!

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #12 pilotgrrl, Feb 27, 2018
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  13. dslomer64

    dslomer64 Member

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    I really don't know why anyone uses Waze unless it's because of warnings about cops. Its directions so often are illogical if not downright wrong in terms of getting me "there", especially in terms of route change by user, which Google responds to immediately, especially today, in traffic hell. In addition, Google is always vigilant about traffic tie-ups and offers route change options, today avoiding the stopped interstate traffic that Waze suggested plowing through. Too many times today (and other times) Waze (has) wanted me to go out of my way (adding many feet, if not miles), including turning back. Google is far from perfect but has Waze beat by a mile.

    P.S. j had both Google and Waze running during the entire trip today.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #13 dslomer64, Feb 7, 2019
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