Vehicle telematics radio operable for providing and disabling driving directions to pre-selected destinations

A telematics radio for providing driving directions to an operator of a vehicle, the telematics radio comprising:

• a receiver for receiving a position signal indicative of the current location of the vehicle;
• memory for storing the location of a home address of an owner of the vehicle;
• a processor operable with the receiver and the memory for determining driving directions from the current location of the vehicle to the home address of the vehicle owner based on the position signal and map information;
• and
• an interface for receiving a request from an operator for the driving directions to the home address of the vehicle owner, the interface is operable with the processor for providing the operator with the driving directions to the home address of the vehicle owner;
• wherein the interface includes a HOME button, wherein the interface is operable with the memory for associating the HOME button with the home address of the vehicle owner, wherein the interface receives a request from the operator for the driving directions to the home address of the vehicle owner in response to the operator pressing the HOME button;
• wherein, in response to receiving an interface deactivation signal, the interface is disabled from providing the operator with driving directions to the pre-selected destinations such that the interface ignores a request for the driving directions to the home address of the vehicle owner in response to the HOME button being pressed.

A method for providing driving directions to an operator of a vehicle, the method comprising:

• storing the location of at least one pre-selected destination;
• associating the pre-selected destinations with respective buttons;
• receiving a request at an interface from the operator for the driving directions to a desired pre-selected destination in response to the operator pressing the button associated with the desired pre-selected destination;
• receiving a position signal indicative of the current location of the vehicle;
• determining driving directions from the current location of the vehicle to the location of the desired pre-selected destination based on the position signal, the stored location of the desired pre-selected destination, and map information;
• the interface providing the operator with the driving directions to the desired pre-selected destination;
• and
• disabling the interface from providing the operator with driving directions to the pre-selected destinations in response to a deactivation signal being received at the interface such that the interface ignores requests from the operator for the driving directions to the pre-selected destinations in response to the operator pressing the buttons associated with the pre-selected destinations.