PSA Connected Navigation - New Vehicles

[GiveMeABreak]

Just found out today that PSA are now very much going down the subscription path concerning Navigation.

Taken from Peugeot's site, but have seen the same on Citroen's web page today after it went mad and was unavailable for a while.

For all new vehicles, equipped with a telematics box, ordered from July 1, 2023, the Connect ONE pack is included in the price of the vehicle. The Connect PLUS pack requires a specific subscription and is available at no additional cost for a trial period of 6 months from the start date of the guarantee. After this trial period, the Connect PLUS pack will be available against payment

Please note e-solutions not currently available in the UK . Remote control available on selected models only

It seems that the facelifted models from about mid 2023 are affected. So Navigation now only seems available if you fork out a subscription after the 6 month trial.

I am supposed to have free map updates for life, but have to renew the 'Live Connected Services' contract after it expires in December. I likely won't be renewing that to be honest as we are so rural it really isn't worth it with the limited travel we do.

What's Included:
Click Image to Zoom

I think this is down to Tom Tom getting greedy, who supply the maps and data for many manufacturers. If they kept the costs down to a reasonable level, I'm sure people would be more inclined to subscribe, but this is only going to anger people and they will be losing money when people decide to say no.

Presently we have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto to fall back on and Apple Maps in IOS 17.* is way better than it ever was, and even better has offline mode. I just downloaded A square chunk of Wales onto mu iPhone which only took 2.6 Gb, so I now have all of Wales available off line so no data use when in the car. It also allows you to pinpoint accidents and Police radar on the CarPlay screen apparently, but I haven't tested this out yet. Waze and Google maps are also available with good and bad points and are all CarPlay compatible.

The bad news is that in the US, I believe GM over there is going to be dumping Apple AND Android Auto for their new 2024 EV range going with Google for their in car shenanigans, so I suspect that's going to blow another Chief Execs Career over that along with the poor EV strategy

https://arstechnica.com/cars/2023/03/gm ... -2024-evs/

[Cit fan 151]

What advantages does the modern connected OEM Navigation system provide over say Waze or Google Maps?

I have used Waze for a while now and find it meets my needs quite well. It gives me warnings on temporary and permanent radar locations, upcoming hazards on the road, police roadside operations, traffic jams etc. I understand it calculates the best route based on current road conditions. It is so easy being able to ask Google for a business name or similar identifier and it not only finds the address but calculates the best route. While it has not been an issue for me, some may dislike it using data. If this is the case, then the offline function in Google Maps might be better, although it will not have all the real time data advantages that Waze provides.

[GiveMeABreak]

Well I would say that it's a factory option that brings other benefits like connected services, live traffic, radar and real time info (if you subscribe to the real time services) such as amount of parking spaces free in a car park, the current price of your vehicle's fuel at each of the petrol stations, traffic alerts and re-routing based on that, integration with the vehicle's road sign recognition and recommendation system that use both the camera and the mapping data, updated POIs with contact information, navigation to and dialling and even automatic routing to the nearest PSA dealership if there's a fault with the vehicle (as happened to me recently). I think live weather data is included to. I know many of these features are available to some degree in the CarPlay apps too.

Routing options are numerous and importantly for me all my navigation instructions are clear and the directions routed to the Head Up Display for me to see. Voice commands work well too for information en route.

But obviously a significant feature is that the vehicle uses it's own WiFi connection to PSA servers in order to provide the live data services, so can be used over the whole of Europe without incurring any data network charges. I know I downloaded a section Wales for off line use in Apple Maps, but that wouldn't be viable for larger map areas and wouldn't have the live data.

If you have an unlimited data contract for a mobile, then I suppose one wouldn't need to be concerned about data charges, but I don't require a contract personally for my phone use as that would be far more than the monthly subscription I think they are going to be charging in any case for the Connected Services.

I believe some people didn't like the adverts on Waze (I've not really used it more than a few times to experiment), and it meant using the phone to set it all up in advance and all the settings and options. I've not used Apple Maps significantly to date as they were crap in the UK as was well-publicised but they seem to have sorted out all the issues now - but again have to be pre-downloaded for off-line use which removes any live services.

I suppose it really depends on how much you use the system and your driving use. I've always preferred the OEM built in solutions and the systems I've had from PSA (Navidrve 3D and the current Connected Nav) have have been excellent.

At some point, as I've mentioned in previous posts, it's all going to be subscription based / 'pay per use' of your car features. Some are already doing this in Tesla and Porsche, but I think BMW and Mercedes were hammered by the EU over some of their subscription practices like charging a few hundred Euros per month to increase your vehicle's engine power! That is a rip off. Hands free access is another chargeable subscription-based feature on Porsche.

I suppose consumers will vote with their wallets and if they don't like something, they won't buy, like all the over-priced unsold EVs piling up they can't shift.

But I think that it's important to have apps like Waze, Google Maps and Apple Maps as it should keep them on their toes and Auto manufacturers know there are alternatives if they start overdoing the subscription stuff. I've never been a fan of subscription services - I prefer to buy software outright and keep it updated - or wait until there's a significant later release that makes it worth my while updating or upgrading to it. It's the worst thing that I hate about Apple - the built in obsolescence of their devices that you know have a limited number of years before the operating system won't be updatable. Had that happen too, where a new Apple Watch couldn't be paired or even used, because my iPhone didn't have a late enough software version - forcing me to update my phone.

[Cit fan 151]

I suppose charging a subscription fee is not as bad as fitting a car with a head unit that dies when the SD card it relies upon inevitably fails! You lose more than navigation!

If our car had the technology, the HUD and road sign recognition integration would be advantages (albeit limited) for the OEM navigation unit.

I have not noticed Ads in Waze. Google, who owns Waze, provides updated maps for everywhere (including Siberia) at no charge and allows searching just about anything (including your nearest PSA dealer, most fuel-efficient route, etc, etc). I think crowdsourcing distinguishes Waze from the rest though (including the subscription services).

Although slightly dated, the users in this thread seemed to like Waze compared to their BMW OEM units https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/waze ... av.978233/

[myglaren]

I don't use either Gmaps or Waze very often but never seen any adverts.

[GiveMeABreak]

I suppose charging a subscription fee is not as bad as fitting a car with a head unit that dies when the SD card it relies upon inevitably fails! You lose more than navigation!

If our car had the technology, the HUD and road sign recognition integration would be advantages (albeit limited) for the OEM navigation unit.

I have not noticed Ads in Waze. Google, who owns Waze, provides updated maps for everywhere (including Siberia) at no charge and allows searching just about anything (including your nearest PSA dealer, most fuel-efficient route, etc, etc). I think crowdsourcing distinguishes Waze from the rest though (including the subscription services).

Although slightly dated, the users in this thread seemed to like Waze compared to their BMW OEM units https://www.bimmerfest.com/threads/waze ... av.978233/

Unfortunately that problem isn't likely to go away, - even the later head units have some form of onboard memory to load the various modules, but I haven't heard of too many failures as yet.

I use my HUD all the time (option to retract it) as it really does save you form looking at the NAV screen, but as far as I can tell at present there is no integration with CarPlay mapping Apps, but I've not long updated to IOS 17.1, so will test again when IOS 17.2 comes out that is supposed to be bringing new features out.

[Sloppysod]

Thanks Marc for the information above.
It's always near to top of my wish list to buy a new(er) car, perhaps when the world calms down,, a bit, I will/can.

Until then I decided to replace my old Garmin with a newer model. I have free maps for life, free safety camera locations, live traffic reports, with live rerouting, it seems to be okay so far.

This device uses my phones data via Bluetooth, but doesn't use a hell of a lot of data, on a recent 850 mile round trip to Belgium it only used 58mb according to my phone, so happy with that.

I thought this device would be obsolete when(if) I replace my car, but looks like it may not!