Nav says to continue straight when it means to turn
This is between Flanagan and Roanoke Illinois, USA. Route 116 turns twice between those towns and the nav instructions don’t seem to reflect the turn until the last minute when it does finally say to turn. I actually think this is a more general problem than where I took the screenshot. Now that I think about it, when it should have said “exit in 31 miles” it said “continue on I55 in 31 miles.”
On the return trip on northbound I-55, for a while it was telling me to continue on I-80 as I passed it - but I80 wasn’t on the route at all and would be a horrible way to get there.
It is technically possible to have gotten home by getting off on I-80, but nobody would do it. It’s doing a box instead of a diagonal.
- Where does this happen?
- ABRP version number (found at bottom of settings menu)
Log in to comment and vote
Comments10
Bo (ABRP)
Jul 28, 2025
Thanks for feedback! So when you get closer to the turn it should show you the correct turn instruction - the black background instruction and “continue” is just to tell you that there is nothing to do right now. Is that what happens in your case?
Walter Dexter
Jul 29, 2025
Yes that’s what it did, but have you never used a nav system? This is not expected behavior. It’s weird.
If I have to turn in .7 miles, or exit in 31 miles, if you’re citing a distance, you should be telling me what I’m going to do next.
What if it were a multi lane road? I might be in completely the wrong lane and yet have to turn in .7 miles. With enough traffic that’s not enough warning.
Bo (ABRP)
Jul 29, 2025
Hello Walter,
Fully understand the issue you face, it seems like we see the road you are on in this case as a small road where we should not give distracting instructions too early. We will investigate and improve on this one.
ABRP User #811399
Jul 29, 2025
Over short distances & on rural / neighborhood roads the “continue straight” instruction isn’t helpful (IMHO). From observation in 6.1.1 it seems like the threshold for changing from “continue straight” to an instruction is about 600 yards / meters at a “reasonable” speed on those roads. Sometimes you’re on a road for not much more than that, so you get a “continue” and then an instruction in short order. That seems like a distraction & it also makes ABRP seem “indecisive.”
I think a bigger problem is that the driver doesn’t know what’s coming next & they really should have their attention focused outside of the car on roads with pedestrians & cross traffic & pets…
Would it be possible to either 1) include the next instruction in the continue straight message, something like “Continue Straight for 700 yds, then Turn Right on Main Street” and/or 2) provide an audible cue (separate from the spoken instructions, since folks may have those turned off) when the navigation guidance changes?
A third option would be to make the navigation guidance tile a button and have tapping on the button bring up the next turn.
Samuel_ABRP
Jul 31, 2025
Hey, I made a prototype of keeping the continue instruction, if there is no immediate action required, but add some more context so you are aware whats coming next:
This should improve the situation on roads, that are kind of major but still slow speed (which is sometimes hard to detect from just the maps data).
What do you think? It’s based on the idea of using the secondary instruction and I actually like it.
ABRP User #811399
Aug 6, 2025
Just installed the 6.1.2 beta and the new guidance is a big improvement. Thank you!