Dash Navigation to cease GPS production

Dash Navigation, the company that developed the first portable GPS navigation devices with Internet connectivity, has laid off 65 percent of its employees and announced it will no longer produce devices for retail customers. Instead, Dash plans to license its technology for use in built-in automotive navigation systems, mobile telephones, PDAs, and other electronic devices. In this way, the company hopes to expand the reach of its services and traffic reporting abilities, without the development and marketing costs of manufacturing.

Dash Express units provide traffic information both through conventional sources and a unique system that enables their devices to report vehicle speed data to a central processing center, from where it is sent out to other Dash users. In this way, each Dash device becomes a provider of real-time traffic information for the network.

While Dash will no longer produce its own units, a representative said the company will continue to support owners who purchased a Dash Express since their introduction earlier this year.   

—Jim Travers

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Comments

[melville248]

Wow, 65 percent of it's employee's let go, that is a real shame! That's over half the company. Is it greed, or is it just reality? Hard to know in this case.

[Tim]

This doesn't shock me. The Dash Express was much too bulky for the average consumer. I had the opportunity to see one first-hand earlier this year at a local electronics expo, and it is almost twice the size of any other GPS unit on the retail market. While the internet connectivity technology seems impressive, it is using cell towers' older 2G network. I suppose that would be fast enough to bring up certain local information, but that is also the reason the unit is so large. I just don't understand why the manufacturers can't bring internet service via satellite. I would gladly pay a small nominal monthly or annual fee for such a service, and the unit would be dimensionally in line with other GPS units. As of right now, if I want to use internet access on my GPS enabled cell phone, I need to pay $70/month, and I don't use the phone function that much!

[Candice]

Wow, that's so horrible. I love my Dash Express. I really hope this doesn't affect owners negatively. That really bums me out.