Can my Garmin Learn my driving behavior?
Can my Garmin Learn my driving behavior?
Garmins "learn" your driving habits over time. If you typically drive over the speed limit on a stretch of road, the nuvi will take this into account when calculating ETAs. Conversely, if you usually drive at a speed lower than the speed limit on a stretch of road, the nuvi will take that fact into account when calculating ETAs.
This is easily seen by doing a simulation. Your typical speeds on a stretch of road from which the nuvi has "learned" your behavior will be the speed at which the simulation will progress.
If you were to do a Master Reset of the unit and run that simulation again, the nuvi will follow the posted speed limits.
Garmin says:
Your device can actually learn from your driving and adapt its internal database to provide better estimates of your arrival time. The device will learn from a driver’s habits and adjust the ETA accordingly. This is done by observing what speed a driver typically drives on each speed category of road and using that data to compute ETA.
Last modified on: 04/07/2014
Also, a Garmin FAQ made this comment
If your device is not routing what you know to be the quickest way to a destination, it may be the result of a couple of variables.
The device will route you to your destination in the quickest general way it knows how. If you are more familiar with the area, chances are you will know a quicker way in certain scenarios. If that is the case, then the device will not route those 'shortcuts' because it wants to route you on major general roads.
However, should you decide to take such shortcuts, then the device will most likely recalculate to your desired route if you simply drive that route.
Note that whenever the device reports traffic along your route, your estimated time of arrival (ETA) will update to take this into consideration.