[tyang]

Great for me as a Google shareholder. Bad as an Angeleno fighting SoCal traffic.

No GPS/maps system seems to offer the option for FasTrak or carpool lane.

No GPS/maps system offers a way to tell a driver in a carpool lane if they have to change several lanes to the right to merge onto another freeway, or if there is a new carpool lane opening up to your left that takes you directly onto the next freeway you way to get on.

This is what happens when you have an oligopoly (Garmin, Google/Waze, Apple) and everyone's product, design and sales people are in the Valley or Tel Aviv and not more driver-centric cities with much more traffic and orders of magnitude more route options like Los Angeles.

[smok]

I was in LA last week (vacation + rental car) and Google Maps definitely sent me to the express lanes on the I95 every time. They had the exact knowledge of the entrances and merges back.

As an aside, yesterday I was traveling upstate NY and to get off from I87 to some local road, Google Maps navigated me to a "Tandem Area", which was also marked that way by a sign and was indeed the right choice. Of course, I'd never turn myself from a highway to a Tandem Area ;)

So it seems like they have a lot of small detail knowledge.

[rogerbinns]

About a year ago I used Google Android navigation to get to a Walmart. Unlike other GPS which just take you to a street address, the Google system knew the Walmart was in a large lot and navigated me to the store within the lot.

[raldi]

I95 is 3000 miles from LA.

[steveklabnik]

At least they said 'the I95,' which at least makes it sound like it's in California.

Dialects are interesting. In my native Pittsburgh, I always said 'Route 28' or maybe '79,' but now that I'm in LA, I always say 'take the 405 to the 10.'

[cbr]

While in Boston "the [number]" would mean a bus.

[mh-]

perhaps he was just agreeing and sharing an anecdote about the inaccuracy...

[ddw]

Sounds like you've got a great idea for an app. There's got to be enough people driving in the L.A. area to be make it worth it, right?

[tyang]

Thanks ddw! Another HN user pointed out in the comments here that TomTom has carpool lane option. And I'd be another passionate founder who can't program or do development.

[zwily]

For several years I've been thinking that HOV lane smarts are the next thing Google would add. :/

[bschlinker]

TomTom includes carpool lanes in their planning for routes in the United States. I've seen it in California and Connecticut. A big red screen shows up and asks "Route uses carpool lanes -- is this ok?". If I am driving alone, then I just hit "No".

[tyang]

Wow, thanks! Going on Amazon to buy.