No live traffic (TMC) service on Alpine head unit any more.

[RichardC]

I have an Alpine INE-W990BT in my Evora and have noticed that I haven’t been getting notifications of traffic jams and road closures recently. Most annoying.

Apparently it is because, on Alpine units, the RDS traffic information (TMC) service in the UK was provided by the Trafficmaster system and this service was unexpectedly shut down in March 2023. Another company, INRIX, still transmits RDS traffic information on FM radio in the UK, so I have emailed Alpine to ask if they are planning on issuing an update to allow UK users to switch over to the INRIX system to re-enable live traffic updates on their units. Here’s hoping, but I suspect the answer will be “buy another satvav or use a smartphone app instead”.

Over on the VW forums, some users having similar problems with their built in satnavs and VW haven’t been very supportive. Some have managed to hack their units to change from Trafficmaster to INRIX and solve the problem. I wonder if it is possible on the Alpine?

[EGTE]

If you can use Waze via your phone, it is much, much better than TMC.