I didn’t buy a Tesla for the navigation. I bought it for the technology, the performance, and the promise of the future. And for the most part, Tesla delivers on that promise every single day (leaving aside issues with the tablet). Except when it comes to getting me from point A to point B.
As a Tesla owner, I want to trust the car completely. I want to type in a destination, put my hands lightly on the wheel, and let the car do its thing. This would be the easiest and most efficient thing to do. But when it comes to navigation, I have learned sometimes the hard way, that blind trust is a mistake.
So I do what a lot of others do and will not admit, I use Waze. As many know, Tesla makes it really difficult to use Waze or Google Maps. There is no Apple Car Play or Android Auto! Every drive starts the same way. Tesla navigation is running on the center screen, calculating battery usage and lining up Superchargers. Waze is open on my phone (the only way you can access it on the Tesla), quietly watching the road in real time. Tesla plans the trip. Waze saves me from it.
I have been routed straight into traffic jams that Waze flagged minutes earlier. I’ve been sent off highways onto side streets to save time, only to hit stop signs or lights, school zones, and congestion that completely erased any theoretical advantage. More than once, I’ve ignored Tesla’s directions, followed Waze instead, and arrived faster, sometimes much faster. Word of advice, navigation especially Tesla’s do not take into account getting caught at traffic lights.
The most frustrating part isn’t that Tesla gets it wrong. It’s that it gets it wrong silently. When Google Maps or Waze reroutes me, I know why. There’s an accident ahead. Construction. A disabled vehicle. A sudden slowdown. Tesla just redraws the blue line—or worse, sticks stubbornly to the original route while traffic grinds to a halt in front of me.
After a few experiences like that, something changes. You stop trusting the system. You start questioning every turn. And once trust is gone, the navigation—no matter how pretty it looks on a massive touchscreen—loses its authority.
The irony is that Tesla has every advantage. The car knows how I drive. It knows my energy consumption down to the decimal. It’s always connected. It has the hardware, the data, and the screen real estate to be the best navigation system on the road.
But what it doesn’t have is the wisdom of millions of drivers reporting what’s happening right now. It also does not have the expertise to incorporate all of the data that Google does. Waze isn’t perfect. Google Maps isn’t either. But they’re alive. They adapt. They warn you about things before you see them. Tesla navigation often feels like it’s reacting to the past, not the present.
To be honest, Tesla navigation is not great at anything. Its battery and range predictions are always optimistic. I typically get 25% to 33% less range than it estimates. The supercharger locations are a needed option but some of them are in bad locations and in fact, one was in a building parking lot that I had to pay $6 for!! The worst part of the navigation is the recommended directions!
Until Tesla closes the gap with Waze and Google Maps, I am will keep doing the same absurd thing I do now. Mount my phone, launch Waze, and let the world’s most advanced car take directions from an app. Because when I’m late, stuck in traffic, or staring at brake lights, the future can wait!