Absolutely sick of Alexa's god-awful navigation

[rpo]

One might expect that Alexa is being used only as a voice interface to Rivian’s nav system, but it doesn’t seem to work that way. If you use Alexa, it uses Amazon’s mapping software to identify the location and send it to the Rivian once you confirm the destination. That’s why the behavior is often different between speaking the destination to Alexa and typing it into the nav system, even if the spoken name of the destination is correctly recognized.

THIS. The issue is with Amazon's address database. If you type in the destination instead, it uses Google Map's database which we all know is far far more accurate.

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[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Still cursing out Alexa navigation every chance I get. Here she is, telling me to go down the street, make a dangerous U-turn at an interstate on-ramp, and come in through the gas station parking lot behind the store, just to get to Cracker Barrel. When the Cracker Barrel is literally a single left-turn away.

I'm gonna wear a hole in the screen on that "submit route feedback" button, LOL. ?

 

[Cycliste]

Alexa may feel uncomfortable with the cursing. Try sweet talking with your navigation requests. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Another day, another Alexa "adventure".

Me: "Alexa, navigate to Tysons Corner Center."
Alexa: "There is a Yorkshire Restaurant 1.5 miles away."

Me: "Alexa, navigate to Tysons Corner Mall."
Alexa: "There is a Tysons Corner Center 19.8 miles away."

So if I say "Tysons Corner Center" she understands "Yorkshire Restaurant". But if I say "Tysons Corner Mall" she understands "Tysons Corner Center". Wtaf?? ??



Feel free to add your own videos or pics. Maybe if this thread gets long enough someone at Rivian will notice, haha. (wishful thinking)

 

[reindeer]

Is it just me? Or can Alexa / MapBox not ever find anything? Voice assistant is supposed to save time / keep hands on wheel while navigating, but is absolutely infuriating. For example, I asked it to go to the UPS Store. I'm literally parked in front of the store and it's telling me to go back out on the main highway and around the block:

This happens every day. No matter where I ask her to navigate to. Absolutely sub-par garbage experience compared to Google Maps / AA. My favorite, of course, was when I asked her to navigate to a charging station at the mall and she told me to get on the interstate. Yes, you can *see* the chargers from there... LOL. ?

/rant

Another EV manufacturer does this so, so well and so clean. I hope this does improve though, as it’s evident there’s room for improvement. Alexa has never been my first or 2nd automated assistant preference. It was the biggest turn off for me when considering the T (to be fair my only turn off). Haha

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

Literally the worst voice assistant ever.


Alexa can't find Glen Echo Park



Me: "Alexa, navigate to Glen Echo Park"
Alexa: Proceeds to route me to different parks all over the country
Me: "Alexa, navigate to Glen Echo Park, Maryland"
Alexa: "Hummm, sorry I couldn't help" a whole bunch of times
Me: "What is the address for Glen Echo Park, Maryland?"
Alexa: Proceeds to give correct address. She literally knows where the park is, but can't navigate to it by name.
?


Alexa can't figure out what Home Depot is



Me: Asks what hours the Home Depot is open till
Alexa: Proceeds to give rambling information for Home Goods, Senior Home Care Services, other random home improvement stores, even Lowes. But refuses to acknowledge anything about Home Depot for about 20 minutes
Me: Where is the nearest Home Depot?
Alexa: The nearest Senior Home Care Services is... blah blah blah
But she'll take me to Lowes... LOL.

 

[COdogman]

Let’s be honest. Are you SURE you actually want to go to any of these places? Maybe she is trying to help you and she is perfectly fine if you think it’s due to her incompetence.??‍

 

[Cycliste]

Try asking for directions to food and bourbon?

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

I haven't bi***ed about this lately. Not because Alexa navigation has gotten any better, but just because I've been too busy. But for anyone keeping score, Alexa nav still hates me, and seems to hate FedEx most of all. Another example:


"Alexa, navigate to FedEx":

Meanwhile, Alexa telling me to go back out on the highway and make a giant loop:

?

 

[godfodder0901]

I haven't bi***ed about this lately. Not because Alexa navigation has gotten any better, but just because I've been too busy. But for anyone keeping score, Alexa nav still hates me, and seems to hate FedEx most of all. Another example:


"Alexa, navigate to FedEx":

Meanwhile, Alexa telling me to go back out on the highway and make a giant loop:

?

To be fair, the routing algorithm shouldn't need to account for navigating to a location you are already parked in front of...

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

To be fair, the routing algorithm likely doesn't account for navigating to a location you are already parked in front of...

Sorry if I didn't explain, it successfully navigated me to the parking lot prior to this (from miles away). It just got baffled finding the actual location of the store in the shopping plaza. Even though is is clearly shown on the map. By comparison, Google Maps just says "You've arrived".

 

[SANZC02]

Sorry if I didn't explain, it successfully navigated me to the parking lot prior to this (from miles away). It just got baffled finding the actual location of the store in the shopping plaza. Even though is is clearly shown on the map. By comparison, Google Maps just says "You've arrived".

I found in my last trip the navigation worked well getting me to the parking lots where the chargers were but occasionally did not know where in the parking lot they actually were located.

I figured hey, it got me this close I can take care of the rest… ?

 

[ohseedee]

LOL I certainly enjoyed watching a few of these videos and hearing your frustration. I would say, I've found you get the best results when talking in a normal tone at a normal speed. Talking slowly (which might seem counter intuitive) trips Alexia up a lot. And yelling at her certainly doesn't make it more accurate. I half expected her to respond "F*** you dude! Pull out your phone and do it yourself. I'm out!"

 

[Tango45]

Alexa can't find Glen Echo Park

She can, but she's trying to save your life.

"Alexa, take me to Maryland."
"Mike, think about the children."

Also, you're in Vienna; it's nice here, stay a while.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

I haven't bi***ed about this lately. Not because Alexa navigation has gotten any better, but just because I've been too busy. But for anyone keeping score, Alexa nav still hates me, and seems to hate FedEx most of all. Another example:


"Alexa, navigate to FedEx":

Meanwhile, Alexa telling me to go back out on the highway and make a giant loop:

?

Aww, where's your sense of adventure. /s

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