Vehicle navigation system having inferred user preferences

A navigation system for automatically providing an automotive vehicle with route guidance in response to an input destination comprising:

• a position sensing unit for sensing the location of the vehicle;
• an information storage unit containing map and route information;
• a user input device for entering preferred route criteria and said destination;
• a display for outputting route guidance information;
• a controller arranged in communication with said position sensing unit, information storage unit, user input and display, said controller including a route calculator for performing a route search from the sensed vehicle location to said destination in accordance with said preferred route criteria and said information storage unit, and displaying route guidance information to said display;
• and
• a machine learning unit in operative communication with said controller and said user input, said machine learning unit monitoring said preferred route criteria input from said user input during a learning phase and transmitting inferred user-preferred route criteria to said controller during an intervention phase.