rarenaro

Hi - I read somewhere that XM is enabling sat based (real-time) traffic with new acuras beginning in august. Simply meaning that you can see realtime he traffic conditions while in map mode. Would be a nice mercedes feature to have, but I've not been able to find out if Sirius will be offering and similar product.Anyone know of any coming. Another option is of course get XM - but with no inegration into command - it looks less attractive.

cte430

LOL, I see you are in New York. What good is the sat. traffic? There is traffic EVERYWHERE!! I love when on the LIE those dopey signs that say "heavy traffic exit 30-36 Exit 38-50- and 52-63"!! Why don't they just say "this whole road sucks, and you will be stuck in traffic for as long as you are on it" Seriously, I think it would be a neat feature. I believe the comand unit in europe already does this.

BoSoxFan

Every rental car I have ever driven in Germany has traffic update on the standard radio. The radio will give several beeps and the announcer will come on giving information on "stau's" and any other traffic problems. The radios also give the call letters of the station for normal broadcasts. Even my 2000 Porsche Boxster indicates the call letters here in the US for the stations that are transmitting that data. I can understand the lack of traffic update since someone has to provide the service but M-B should be able to do the call letters since stations are already doing that. I understand that broadcasters are also going to start transmitting more text information sometime soon.

kort677

Sirius has NY traffic, I don't know if XM does

HotWheels500

Navigation Technologies is partnering with other companies to bring what sounds like the European traffic advisory overlay onto the nav display. See

http://www.itsa.org/itsnews.nsf/0/46...f?OpenDocument

This is an older press release. Maybe someone can find more current progress reports on the NavTech tests and automotive partners.

I've seen it work in Europe. Trust me, you want it!

rarenaro

I think it would be real nice - especially in NYC (and surrounding areas). Since you can be driving nicely along at 70mph and suddenyl come up on an accident our of nowhere. Is the Sirius location based (via satellite position) of just NYC in general?

rarenaro

I think it would be real nice - especially in NYC (and surrounding areas). Since you can be driving nicely along at 70mph and suddenyl come up on an accident our of nowhere. Is the Sirius location based (via satellite position) of just NYC in general?

scorchie

If he's referring to Sirius traffic in the way I think he is, it only means that it is "traffic radio". Not quite what you are referring to.

My understanding is that TMC is under test in the US. However, I think we would need new data discs for COMAND to use the feature. The European discs obviously have the feature, although I find it quite amusing to be flying down the autobahn and to have the COMAND bring up warnings of traffic congestion ahead, yet route us right into the traffic jam (despite "dynamic routing" being selected).

-s-

alewifebp

cte430 makes a good point, exactly why I tend to go through excessive lengths and road changes to avoid the LIE. But enough about the sorry state of tri-state NY roads...

Well, that would be putting MB on the bleeding edge. The information systems for traffic are such a hodge podge of multiple agencies handling traffic information, it will probably be some time before we see it in MB's.

kort677

siruis offers local based traffic in about a doxen or so metro areas, NY is one of them. the data they use is the same data used by everyone who reports traffic, there is a ticker system for traffic alerts that everyone uses. so like I said if you have the NAV and siruis you get as good info as any

BoSoxFan

That has never happened to me but I have heard of it happening to a lot of other people. One thing that I've found in Germany is that if you hit a stau, you can almost always find a secondary road that will get you to wherever you are going. It's also a much more pleasant drive if you are not in too much of a hurry. The problem is getting off in time so you don't get stuck between ausfarhts. I've driven all over the country on the secondaries when I had the time and had some great experiences stumbling across festes and the like.

scorchie

Yeah, that's the problem... usually, the stau comes up and there's no ausfahrt for like 30km...

I would like to drive the side roads, but usually we're in a diesel van and it hasn't been as fun lately. Haha.

-s-

BoSoxFan

A diesel van I once drove from Heidelberg to Udine, Italy in a diesel van taking the eastern route through the pass near Salzburg. It wasn't even an MB, it was one of those boxy Ford things. The only good thing I can say about the trip is that the weather was great, the scenery beautiful, and I had two good friends with me who were great companions.

Wolfman

I was actually impressed with the DVD based dynamic routing from BMW. It did a better job than the older comand (CD ROM) based i could compare it with.

The problem with both systems is that the traffic info is not updated frequently enough. A 6km traffic jam can grow into 10-15 km in no time and alternate routes are also quickly congested.

Once you are in it, you might as well go and pull out a lawn chair

Wolfman

BoSoxFan

It's not like it was 20, for that matter even 10, years ago. At one time, you could drive from Saarbruecken to Nuremberg in about 2 hours. Now, you're lucky to make it in 4 or 5.

scorchie

We're making a drive tomorrow... no COMAND though.

Already have seen lots of people tonite out on the road with their camper vans!

-s-

BoSoxFan

It's only June. That never used to start until August.

They probably all have "NL" stickers.

scorchie

What's really funny is... in Germany, you all see NL plates with campers. In Holland, there are way more DE plates with campers. And in Norway, I hear they just all are Norwegian...

-s-

BoSoxFan

I haven't spent that much time in Holland and when I did, it was not during the summer. We did a project in Holland a few years ago and my German employees were able to talk to the local Dutch. I never knew this before but apparently Dutch is basically a dialect of German. That might explain why you see Ds in NL and vice versa. On interesting point is that you see very few F's in Germany -- still a lot of bad blood there, I guess.

Wolfman

Well, I guess both Germans and the Dutch will disagree a bit with that statement

But it is easy especially when you from northern Germany...

Wolfman

BoSoxFan

Interesting. These guys were from Sachsen. I was interested and looked it up and it turns out that the Saxons settled in northwest Germany and eastern Netherlands. There you have it.