NAV Question - Entering specific route.

Not directly. Automobile nav systems are not like those on boats and planes, where you always link a number of waypoints into a route.

You can accomplish something similar by using multiple destinations, and linking one to the next. Jill (that's her real name, according to the data file) will still give you three choices, but the choices will all route through your intermediate destinations.

The bad thing is that you cannot save these routes. You can save the waypoints and reuse them, but you have to select each destination every time and add it to the current route. I hope Toyota changes this in a future version.

Tom

 

Also make sure that the additional destinations are added in the correct order. You can shift them around if necessary.

Tom

 

I've found it is even better to add the points a few hundred yards before or after the intersection.

If I add the destination on top of the intersection, then the vioce prompts dont tell me if I'll be turning as I approach the intersection. It simply indicates that I am approaching my destination.

By adding the destination before or after the intersection, the voice prompts are able to indicate what I am supposed to be doing when I approach.

 

I actually observed what looked like learned behavior on my NAV. There is this route that I've taken a number of times, and one time I ignored the NAV instructions and took an alternate route. The next time I entered the same destination, my alternate route showed up as one of the 3 options.

Another really neat function is "Detour". You're following a route, and get stuck in traffic. Give the voice command "Detour" (it actually understands me on this one), and the NAV trys to find an alternate route. This has pointed out a number of alternate routes that I was unaware of, even in an area that I drive regularly.

 

I can confirm that it does this. I have been taking a weekly class located in a part of town I'm not too familiar with. So I programmed the NAV with the address and followed one of the 3 given routes. I wasn't entirely pleased with that route, and wanted to take a different street, but it wasn't one of the 3 choices. So, in future trips, I started by choosing the most similar route, and then deviating. "Hillary" just adjusted her instructions to get me there. I continued to use the NAV each week because my destination is far down a winding road with a lot of similar-looking buildings. This winding road comes after a couple of turns on other twisty roads once I'm off the main street.

One time, though, I noticed that my preferred street was now one of the 3 choices. So I chose it, but Hillary instructed me to turn off the main road (the start of the twisty part) a few blocks earlier than I had been. I ignored her and she then instructed me to turn at the usual place. The following week, I was able to choose the preferred street as one of the 3 choices, and when I got to the early turn, she said nothing. Then I reached the later turn, where I had turned before, and she said to turn there.

She seems to know I like that route.

 

A word of warning if you do this. I took a trip to Michigan last summer and didn't want to drive through Chicago. I picked a route that went around Chicago. I chose a point on the interstate as my first destination so that the NAV would have to take me around Chicago, and from there I said I wanted to go to [my final destination]. It worked great. Once I reached the first point, my final destination became my new destination.

But on the way back, I tried to do the same thing. I set that same point as my initial destination, and then home from there. As I approached the intermediate destination, something weird happened. "Hillary" told me to exit the highway. I was confused, but did it anyway. She had me turn around and head the opposite way on the same highway. Then I suddenly figured out what was happening. The point on the highway (remember this was an interstate) could only be reached from the southbound side. Until I turned around, I couldn't reach the "destination."

 

Re: the navigation voice names, the Prius uses Nuance's RealSpeak to provide the voice. The US English voice is Jill, but other countries have their own voices and names -- the link has a list of the supported languages. I've been wondering -- do Priuses in other English-speaking countries use the US accent, or do they have the localized accents like Karen (Australia) or Emily (UK)?