gavriil

XM TO OFFER REAL-TIME TRAFFIC ALERTS - - - Source: The Car Connection

With American highways becoming increasingly traffic-snarled, XM Satellite Radio is betting motorists will pay for more accurate and complete traffic updates than they can get on local radio. The service, best known for offering 100 channels of music and talk that can be heard across the country, is getting ready to launch its new XM NavTraffic system. Unlike today's radio traffic alerts, the new technology will actually display where roads are clogged on a vehicle navigation screen, making it possible for a motorist to plot out another route. XM NavTraffic will debut on the new Acura RL, with General Motors to quickly follow with an option for its Cadillac division. Both carmakers own stakes in XM. Service will start in a handful of select, major metro markets. The satellite service company is partnering on the traffic project with Chicago-based Navteq, one of the leaders in onboard navigation mapping systems.

Slimey

Nice, but I've never really had anything useful come of traffic alerts.

1) Traffic patterns are quite predictable -- most of us (urbanites) know where the bad traffic is and when it occurs.

2) Non predictable events such as collisions, spills, et cetera are easily identifiable once one encounters them -- the predictable traffic pattern (see #1) is changed and to an experienced commuter this change is obvious early on.

3) I've never had a traffic report reliably predict a pattern that forces me to change my route -- usually once reported, the collision is already off to the side or completely off the road. The delay between the traffic creating event and the report of said event is delayed significantly. I've been on the road many times and have had 'Sig alerts' one mile ahead of me that were gone by the time I got there.

4) Something more major like a chemical spill screws up traffic all around and detours are usually of no help.

Just my -- I don't bother with traffic reports.

goldmemberer

True, Slimey, but then... experienced commuters could also just figure out where to go, no need for the navi.

I'm guessing it comes down to convenience and having the option to access whatever info.

CrockPot

you obviously don't live in Los Angeles.:P

1SICKLEX

So 2 RL advantages are gone already.
AWD (now offered by the M35 and GS 300)
Real Time NAV (hella people)

THis is a great tool to me. Great technology at work.

Slimey

Only for about 35 years

gavriil

LA is on a permanent traffic deadlock. It's like accidents happened everywhere and they never clear up. Permanent rush hour situation. I hate it.

I am going to Santa Barbara next week for example. I would have loved to land at LAX and take a nice rental and drive it to SB. The route is scenic and beautiful compared to the crap one sees in the mid-west. I did it once. NEVER again! Traffic is so bad, it took me 2 hours to get there. So now I either got to get on the dreaded propeller plane from LAX to SBA or go through Denver and take a freaking CR7 from Denver to SBA (2+2 configuration) and be on it for 2.5 hours. What a bitch! Believe it or not, I prefer the latter, than driving it. It's that bad!

heyitsme

Seems like an ok idea but I don't think its worth the money, I'm assuming they are charging extra like Sirius is on top of the ~10month for the basic radio service. Both Sirius and XM already have an included radio based traffic program running 24/7, seems less convient to have to check your route on navigation for traffic than to listen to the traffic channels while driving. If you like to check your whole route you can do it at traffic.com

JCD

I'm told by XM that my 2004 RL will use NavTraffic. On that, I went ahead and subscribed. Nothing has happened in my car. XM says "it shows up as active". Is the 2004 RL compatible with NavTraffic? If so, what should I do to get it to work? What should I be seeing when it's working? Thanks.

SpicyMikey

Some obvious questions to ask (sorry if they are too obvious)

1) Do you have XM sat RADIO service working in the car? if so, then the antenna is OK in your car. Youo can rule that out as a cause

2) Did you tell XM what version of Nav Software you are running? Eventhough the car can support the NavTraffic feature, your software version may be too old. I think the service was first offered in 05. That makes me suspicious your car and/or software may not support it.

3) Did you call the dealer and ask them? XM won't know jack about your Acura. You need to ask the dealer or call Acura Customer Services.

Hope that gets you going in the right direction

By the way; try posting this question in the First Gen RL forum. You'll have better luck

SPUDMTN

I'm almost 100% sure that XM NavTraffic does not work in the 2004 RL--this was first supported by 2005s.

My understanding is that the older generation navs do not have XM integrated; there's no way to retrieve traffic data from XM.

Double check with your dealer, though.