[Brett530]

I have seen this a few times, but not a lot. I verified that navigation was not active. What is the white arrow pointing down/left?

[J00PTv]

I see it on mine only when nav is active. is it always there or you think it's showing up by error? is this a 2017 model? mine doesn't have the speed limit like yours does.

[Elvisfan]

Originally Posted by Brett530

I have seen this a few times, but not a lot. I verified that navigation was not active. What is the white arrow pointing down/left?

Sometimes the arrow stays on after I have used Navigation. I don’t know what it represents since the navigation is over. It stays on until a restart. I don’t have the speed limits.

[Skyhigh]

Immediate thought - the direction to your destination. Shouldn't stay on though. Haven't seen it on mine.

[Thirtye]

I had it the other day, I had used the navigation on my previous trip and the arrow appeared to be pointing to that destination, but it wasn't active.
I set a new destination and then canceled it, the arrow disappeared from the HUD.
I assume it's just a weird thing that happens now and again.

[whatevs]

Same this happened to me ..not on HUD but on the display, and stayed on for sometime.

[BeerHerder]

I don't have HUD, but yesterday I was using nav and it stayed on after reaching my destination in the display in the dash. Seemed to be kind of just tracking the road I was on... after I turned off the car and came back later it was gone.

[SquareWheels]

I have no idea what the big arrow is trying to tell me. It doesn't seem to align with where it wants me to go, or what the next turn is.
What is its purpose?
Thanks

[smrtypants44]

This is normal. On my car the arrow stays on after youve reached/cancelled your nav destination until you power cycle the car.

2017 440i with Id6

[tex2670]

Originally Posted by SquareWheels

I have no idea what the big arrow is trying to tell me. It doesn't seem to align with where it wants me to go, or what the next turn is.
What is its purpose?
Thanks

it's the general direction toward your destination. it's present the entire trip when guidance is on.

[Tommy-G]

I would agree its a non-termination from the last navigation but could it be "North?"

Some GPS will always have an arrow that points to "North"

[CajunBMW]

Originally Posted by TommyG-inFlaNow

I would agree its a non-termination from the last navigation but could it be "North?"

Some GPS will always have an arrow that points to "North"

It is a remnant from Nav. It seems to remain and points in the direction you need to go to the point you set. For me it only seems to do this if I don't stop at the site it thinks is my destination. As a good example for me; since my car often loads my appointment addresses and if that address for example were the front entrance of the building I am suppose to go to and I then park in the back, the arrow will stay on until I park. It goes away the next time you start or shut off the nav setting; at least for me.

[Brett530]

Thanks for all the replies. It does seem to be a residual pointer from a previous navigation session. In this photo it is pointing southeast so definitely not a North pointing arrow. I can't recall what my previous destination was in this photo, but it is likely pointing to where it had been set to.

I originally thought it was an arrow telling me to lower my speed :-) I slowed down below the limit just to prove that theory wrong.

[Billfitz]

Originally Posted by smrtypants44

This is normal. On my car the arrow stays on after youve reached/cancelled your nav destination until you power cycle the car.

That, or until you've cancelled the destination guidance, whichever comes first.

[eff32fl]

Originally Posted by Elvisfan

Sometimes the arrow stays on after I have used Navigation. I don’t know what it represents since the navigation is over. It stays on until a restart. I don’t have the speed limits.

Same here, that arrow stays on the HUD sometimes after using navigation and reaching the destination. I've used voice command "cancel navigation" to try and get it to go away and the lady voice said nav wasn't active. Mine also goes away after shutting off the car and turning it back on.

[eluded]

It indicates the car next to you wants to race

[Psi5]

Originally Posted by Brett530

Thanks for all the replies. It does seem to be a residual pointer from a previous navigation session. In this photo it is pointing southeast so definitely not a North pointing arrow. I can't recall what my previous destination was in this photo, but it is likely pointing to where it had been set to.

I am not 100% certain but based on watching the arrow, the nav map, and the road (carefully, and when there is little other traffic of course), it is a rough indicator of the direction the road is going next. That is, if the arrow is pointed slightly right (like at 2 o'clock,), the road is going to curve slightly to the right ahead. It seems to be speed sensitive so the faster you are going, the more "predictive" (i.e., further out) the arrow is indicating the direction the road will go.

Why it stayed on I don't know but it is a pretty cool feature, especially when you are blasting down unfamiliar roads when you are not sure where the next turn is or which way it is headed.

[zeikei]

I zoomed in and noticed it is actually pointing out that there is a screw laying on the road that you should avoid.

[Brett530]

Originally Posted by zeikei

I zoomed in and noticed it is actually pointing out that there is a screw laying on the road that you should avoid.

LOL. If they could only design a pot hole detector, I'd pay for that.

[SquareWheels]

So, no one really knows what that large arrow is? I have a 2 series loaner right now, it does not have heads up, but it has the same odd arrow in the gauge cluster. It made no sense at all. Seems very random in its direction.

[Brett530]

It seems to point to the last destination the Nav system was guiding to even after navigation has been cancelled. It may only happen when you don't actually get to your destination and cancel Nav, but that is speculation.

[eff32fl]

Originally Posted by zeikei

I zoomed in and noticed it is actually pointing out that there is a screw laying on the road that you should avoid.

Yeah man gotta avoid those random BMW screws, they always trying to screw you out of your hard earned cash