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Dash Express, from startup Dash Navigation, is a new, smarter in-car navigation device. It looks like the navigation devices we are all familiar with, and like other such devices, uses GPS satellite signals to route you towards your destination. However, Dash Express connects to its maker's network via the Internet, which allows the device to send information about local traffic conditions to the company, which then distributes it to other Dash devices. Other units use the information to display traffic speed on nearby roads using a color code: red, yellow or green. The success of this system will depend on how many people purchase the devices, and thus how many are out on the roads sending back information. The company claims that for most cities, several hundred of the devices on the road would supply an adequate amount of information. Dash supplements the data provided by its own devices with data from a commercial vendor. However, this data covers only major roads and may be stale by the time it reaches drivers. Dash displays older information as dotted rather than solid lines to warn drivers it may be stale. A test of the device ran into some glitches, such as the device routing the driver into a traffic jam despite the road being marked as red. The Dash Express offers additional features including allowing others to send destination information to your car from a webpage, and allowing drivers to search the Web for local businesses.
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