MBUX Sat Nav Route Settings

[millie80r]

Hi - no matter which combination of settings I use, I cannot get my 2020 MBUX sat nav to take me home via the shortest route on local roads that I know. On a regular trip on minor but recognised B roads, it always takes me on a 6.5 mile route while the shortest route is only 4.2 miles.
This doesn't really fill me with confidence for when I'm away on roads I don't know.
Anybody else noticed the same problem?

 

[Fununcle]

Is there a setting for shortest or fastest route? Could be the nav has looked at traffic conditions and wants to take you on a longer but quicker route. Could of course just be crap at route planning.

 

[millie80r]

Is there a setting for shortest or fastest route? Could be the nav has looked at traffic conditions and wants to take you on a longer but quicker route. Could of course just be crap at route planning.

Yes - you can choose FASTEST, SHORTEST or ECO but it doesn't matter. The roads are all minor, even the ones it chooses. There's no traffic.

 

[markjay]

On my (older) satanav there's also a Dynamic route option, and that's the only one that takes into account traffic conditions.

Shortest, on my system, does what it says on the box, so best avoided when driving out of town unless you want the paintwork scratched by hedges on either side .... ask me how I know

So not sure why your system doesn't actually use the shortest route. Are all the roads in your area correctly showing on the map? And are the maps and the firmware all up to date?

Also... why do you need to program the satnav to take you on a route you already know?

 

[Fununcle]

Yes - you can choose FASTEST, SHORTEST or ECO but it doesn't matter. The roads are all minor, even the ones it chooses. There's no traffic.

Must just be rubbish then.

 

[millie80r]

On my (older) satanav there's also a Dynamic route option, and that's the only one that takes into account traffic conditions.

Shortest, on my system, does what it says on the box, so best avoided when driving out of town unless you want the paintwork scratched by hedges on either side .... ask me how I know

So not sure why your system doesn't actually use the shortest route. Are all the roads in your area correctly showing on the map? And are the maps and the firmware all up to date?

Also... why do you need to program the satnav to take you on a route you already know?

Obviously, I don't need the sat nav to take me home on roads I know but it's the only way to see that it is (or isn't!) working properly. I'm going on holiday next week so should I just accept that it is unnecessarily going to add one third to my mileage every time I use it?
Thanks for your help.

 

[st13phil]

Firstly, it's important to remember that sat-nav's are only as good as a) their cartography, and b) the routing algorithm(s) deployed.

So the first question is: Are you running the latest cartography on your MBUX system?

Supplemental questions include:

1. Are all of the roads on the shortest route known to you shown on the screen?
2. If yes, then are any of those roads the subject of any restrictions either in reality or within the cartography?
3. Do you have any avoidances set in the MBUX system?

if you care to share the postcodes of your start and end points I'm happy to check out what routing a Garmin system comes up with using different routing options.

 

[steve_w]

It could be some road or section of road is marked not for vehicles in the map data. I think the MBUX system uses data from Here (my NTG5.5 does).
You can see if it will generate a sensible route on their web app. HERE WeGo

Near me there's a short local link road which was built over 25 years ago, on a bus route, which the app ignored when routing for a vehicle but included for cyclists. The road appeared the same as others on the maps on both the web site and in the car.
I did convince Here that there was an error and they fixed early this year (for the web and mobile apps) but the update still hasn't made it through to the MB map updates.

The link road joins an A road at a roundabout and when following the A road past it on the left the Nav system says "take the first exit at the rounabout" even though the visual display and map shows the affected road as the first exit and the A road as the second. Anyone just following verbal instructions would end up in an endless loop.

 

[millie80r]

Firstly, it's important to remember that sat-nav's are only as good as a) their cartography, and b) the routing algorithm(s) deployed.

So the first question is: Are you running the latest cartography on your MBUX system?

Supplemental questions include:

1. Are all of the roads on the shortest route known to you shown on the screen?
2. If yes, then are any of those roads the subject of any restrictions either in reality or within the cartography?
3. Do you have any avoidances set in the MBUX system?

if you care to share the postcodes of your start and end points I'm happy to check out what routing a Garmin system comes up with using different routing options.

Thanks.
Yes to latest cartography.
Yes - all roads are known. If i ignore first instruction and go with the correct route, it eventually re-routes with the shorter, quicker version.
No - no avoidance set.
The postcodes are EH39 5JS to EH39 5EH
- Google Maps shows the difference as 4.3 miles or 5.6 miles and a 1 minute time difference although I would dispute this and say the time is at least 4 minutes longer in reality. MBUX shows the mileage as being over 6 miles although I've never followed it to say where it goes. I will do though.

 

[millie80r]

It could be some road or section of road is marked not for vehicles in the map data. I think the MBUX system uses data from Here (my NTG5.5 does).
You can see if it will generate a sensible route on their web app. HERE WeGo

Near me there's a short local link road which was built over 25 years ago, on a bus route, which the app ignored when routing for a vehicle but included for cyclists. The road appeared the same as others on the maps on both the web site and in the car.
I did convince Here that there was an error and they fixed early this year (for the web and mobile apps) but the update still hasn't made it through to the MB map updates.

The link road joins an A road at a roundabout and when following the A road past it on the left the Nav system says "take the first exit at the rounabout" even though the visual display and map shows the affected road as the first exit and the A road as the second. Anyone just following verbal instructions would end up in an endless loop.

Thanks. Please see my reply to st13phil.

 

[markjay]

Yes to latest cartography.

And also latest firmware? The navigation software (and route-planning algorithm) is bundled with the firmware update, not with the maps.

 

[millie80r]

Thanks. Please see my reply to st13phil.

Thanks. I've just used the HERE route (see attached screenshot).
It shows both route options and shows the same time - 10 minutes.
The more direct route (and my preferred choice) is 1.1 miles shorter and is definitely quicker but MBUX never chooses this route on any of the settings.

 

[millie80r]

And also latest firmware? The navigation software (and route-planning algorithm) is bundled with the firmware update, not with the maps.

Well I'm not exactly certain about that but the car is less than a year old and the roads have never changed.

 

[markjay]

Well I'm not exactly certain about that but the car is less than a year old and the roads have never changed.

The car should have over-the-air infotainment system software updates. Have you ever been promoted to approve one?

 

[st13phil]

The postcodes are EH39 5JS to EH39 5EH

Using those postcodes, a Garmin device using the current cartography (provided by Here, as suggested by @steve_w) routes north on the B1347, following the route shown on your screen grab of Google Maps.

If I use the route planner at HERE WeGo then it offers the longer route, first heading west along the B1377 before heading north on the B1345, as the recommendation for car travel, but the shorter route north on the B1347 for cyclists. Interestingly, if I experiment with the routing parameters that Garmin offer and ask it to avoid Residential Roads, then it follows the longer B1377 / B1345 route favoured by the Here routing and, presumably, MBUX.

Based upon this, my guess is that Mercedes have chosen to favour avoidance of Residential Roads in their routing algorithm - which makes a good deal of sense, even if it may result in what looks like a perverse result when asking for a shortest route connected by residential roads.

So regarding your question "should I just accept that it is unnecessarily going to add one third to my mileage every time I use it?", the answer is "No", except in very special circumstances.

 

[millie80r]

Using those postcodes, a Garmin device using the current cartography (provided by Here, as suggested by @steve_w) routes north on the B1347, following the route shown on your screen grab of Google Maps.

If I use the route planner at HERE WeGo then it offers the longer route, first heading west along the B1377 before heading north on the B1345, as the recommendation for car travel, but the shorter route north on the B1347 for cyclists. Interestingly, if I experiment with the routing parameters that Garmin offer and ask it to avoid Residential Roads, then it follows the longer B1377 / B1345 route favoured by the Here routing and, presumably, MBUX.

Based upon this, my guess is that Mercedes have chosen to favour avoidance of Residential Roads in their routing algorithm - which makes a good deal of sense, even if it may result in what looks like a perverse result when asking for a shortest route connected by residential roads.

So regarding your question "should I just accept that it is unnecessarily going to add one third to my mileage every time I use it?", the answer is "No", except in very special circumstances.

Thanks for all of your investigations. Much appreciated.
I've just travelled the route from the South and noted that if I ignore the MBUX suggested route of turning left onto B1377 and instead continued on the B1347 it immediately changes to say my route will be 6.5 miles from there. This is because it is ignoring the small road accessed by the sharp left turn (near where B1347 is shown on the map). In fact it is not even taking the slightly longer loop shown by 11 mins on the map but going round and finding the nearest A road. If I do take the sharp left turn, the distance left changes to 2.5 miles. Obviously much shorter.
The road that it is ignoring is not residential (none of them are apart from the odd farm) but is a smaller B road. Still 2 lanes and perfectly passable but definitely seems to be ignored by MBUX until you drive on it.
Many thanks once again.

 

[millie80r]

The car should have over-the-air infotainment system software updates. Have you ever been promoted to approve one?

Thanks - yes, I have so I'm pretty sure I'm all up to date.

 

[st13phil]

Many thanks once again.

You’re welcome. Enjoy your holiday!

 

[John N]

Hi - no matter which combination of settings I use, I cannot get my 2020 MBUX sat nav to take me home via the shortest route on local roads that I know. On a regular trip on minor but recognised B roads, it always takes me on a 6.5 mile route while the shortest route is only 4.2 miles.
This doesn't really fill me with confidence for when I'm away on roads I don't know.
Anybody else noticed the same problem?

Search You Tube for MBUX, there's one that covers 15 MBUX Tips, one of them shows a Setting for the SatNav called "Commuter Route" I have't tried it myself as my car is on order, but I think it may solve you problem!

 

[Rigby]

Hi all,
I have recently bought a new car with MBUX and had the maps updated to the latest version...2022 (V18.0) Europe, see attached photo.
I have it set on ‘Fast’ route (Same as my old Comand) but this MBUX sat nav takes me round the houses in my local area.

Does anybody have a solution?