Driving the competition . . . Part One . . .
Hertz offers the "Neverlost" car navigation system for $6 a day extra on cars in selected cities, including Los Angeles, which I just visited with my family. It's a popular option, and they are expanding the number of cities in which it will be available. "Neverlost" is now owned by Orbi, although it was developed by Rockwell.
The car nav screen underslings from below the dash; it's surprisingly small, about 2 inches by 2 inches, or a trace more. The controls are largely directional arrows along with a few buttons. For LA cars, the unit offers directional guidance to sites in California and Nevada. There is a very small external receiver mounted at the top of the trunk, a non-metallic, non reflective disc about 3 inches in diameter that is connected to a Rockwell "Pathmaster" unit hidden under the floor of the trunk.
To initially use the equipment, you press a button that allows you to key in the address of your destination. You can choose a street address, an intersection, a highway exit, or a "point of interest." If you are returning to someplace you have already been, you can request "Guidance History," which lists earlier destinations.
You better have a good idea of the address, especially in LA, where there are numerous towns like "Inglewood" or "Brentwood" that must be accurately specified. I tried giving a brother some directions to a location near LAX based on street intersections, and we out of towners had a pretty hard time figuring out what jurisdiction those streets might be. Further, it is pretty daunting to encounter an unending, alphabetical list of LA streets that can only be traversed by arrows on the car nav unit, rather than by typing in names.
Finally, we got it, and the car nav unit was able to produce the equivalent of its turn by turn directions for the whole trip, which he then copied down and successfully followed in his own car. It's an oddity, but en route you cannot afterwards get this series of turn by turn directions -- only a plotted route map on the tiny screen, or else the ordinary moment by moment screen and verbal instructions from the Neverlost system.
The car nav unit relies on both voice and screen guidance. Both are useful. Sometimes the screen washes out in the sunlight, but most of the time it has an easily read wide yellow graphic arrow pointed left, right, or straight ahead, along with a countdown of mileage, by tenths of miles, until the turn (or road decision in the case of straight arrows -- more on that later). The voice commands are reasonably intelligible, although I believe it would be a good move for TRMB to use a facsimile of Majel Barret Roddenberry's voice rather than the nasal male voice I was hearing all trip from Orbi. The unit allows you to program the voice volume as high, medium, or low. It also lets you program the scale of the display map when you are off-route or just wanting to see the route ahead in place of the arrow-based screen.
It is clear that the unit is using GPS, gyro and speed inputs to provide guidance. As you get underway, the unit calculates its route -- and takes anywhere from 3 to 10 seconds to do it, based on complexity and distance -- and then provides a map, showing the car as a directional arrow on or near a local street map. The voice commands "proceed to the highlighted route" and, sure enough, the local streets show, by a different color and arrow direction, where to head. Unfortunately, mapping of the LAX airport leaves a lot to be desired, and the unit also showed me driving off-road. Once you do eventually get to the route (much easier outside of LAX where the rental cars start) the map is replaced by the yellow arrow screens.
The unit was great on the LA highways, although it had me zigging and zagging more than any normal tourist should -- more like a cabbie cutting a half mile off his route. It was accurate down to off-ramp directions, helpfully instructing me while on the offramp, for instance, to "stay left." The mapping was not as good when we were getting to our hotel in Palm Desert -- it thought my address was across the street. So I understand why this product wasn't named "Neverwrong."
More later . . . |
