Lane Assistant
Lane Assist is becoming a popular feature recently as the data that drives it becomes more complete. It does what the title suggests– gives you clues about which lane you should be in as you approach certain intersections.
TomTom
To the right is an image that shows you what Lane Guidance looks like on a TomTom. I’ve circled the Lane Assist feature in the lower left. Note that it shows one lane continuing straight, a barrier, one more lane going straight, one lane that can go either straight or to the right, and then finally a lane that only goes to the right. The white arrows represent the lane (or lanes) you should be in while the darker arrows are lanes you don’t want to be on in 0.20 miles.
Garmin
Garmin has a similar Lane Assistant feature as seen to the image on the right. Lane information is displayed in the upper left corner of the screen. In this example there are two lanes that make a left turn in white, then three lanes that continue straight. Again, the white images show the lanes you want to be in.
Lane Assistance from all manufacturers are not available in all– nor even most areas. The data is getting better, but certainly don’t expect to see it everywhere.
