A:Answer This unit does NOT receive traffic updates directly. You must link it with a smartphone, which is a pain in the posterior. Though a long TomTom user, I am switching to a Garmin SmartDrive 65 which, for almost the same price, has free traffic updates without a smartphone and also lets one give voice commands: "OK, Garmin, take me to 123 Sesame St., New York, New York." It also has more human-like directions, such as "Turn right on Lancaster at the Lincoln Fried Chicken." And it has other nice features, such as better graphics and a history database from the History Channel to tell you something about locations you pass.