What Type of Traffic Does My Automotive Device Use?

Your Garmin automotive device is compatible with three different types of traffic:

• Live Traffic  using an app on a compatible smartphone paired with the device via Bluetooth
• An embedded traffic receiver  built into the device
• A non-embedded external traffic receiver  built into a vehicle power cable

These devices come in the box with embedded traffic. Use the Garmin Drive™ App to receive Live Traffic for the best results.

Live Traffic

Note: Your phone must be in a coverage area for your carrier for the Garmin Drive App to provide traffic. This coverage varies by the cellular provider.

The device uses Live Traffic. The traffic information is received from the Garmin Drive App on a compatible smartphone, which is paired with the device via Bluetooth. See Traffic Service Differences for North American Automotive Devices.

See Garmin Drive App Compatibility and Availability for a list of compatible devices.

See Troubleshooting Garmin Drive App Traffic on Automotive Devices for troubleshooting.

Embedded Traffic Receiver 

The device includes a traffic receiver embedded into the body of the GPS.

• • For most embedded devices, the vehicle power cable included is called a TA20 cable, which has a blue light when connected to a power source.  The label for the cable can be found on the bottom of the portion of the cable that connects to the 12-vold outlet in your vehicle.  
  • On the following devices, the vehicle power cable included is called a car charger (USB-C vehicle power cable with 12 volt adapter), which has a blue light on the adapter when connected to a power source. 
    • Garmin DriveCam™ 76 GPS navigator with camera
    • Garmin DriveSmart™ 66 with Amazon Alexa GPS navigator
    • Garmin DriveSmart™ 76 with Amazon Alexa GPS navigator
    • Garmin DriveSmart™ 86 with Amazon Alexa GPS navigator
      

The vehicle power cable does not include the receiver, but it is still necessary to connect the device to the vehicle power cable to receive traffic.  Using the GPS device without the vehicle cable, or with a third-party vehicle cable, will result in no traffic information. 

Using an External Traffic Receiver

If you prefer to use a traffic receiver cable and the embedded traffic service is not functioning: 

• • For most traffic compatible devices, see Troubleshooting an Automotive Traffic Issue.
  • For the Garmin DriveCam™ 76 and Garmin DriveSmart™ 65/66/76/86 with Amazon Alexa devices, see Troubleshooting an Automotive Traffic Issue with the Garmin Automotive Device.
  • You can view compatible external traffic receivers if your device is still unable to acquire a traffic signal after troubleshooting.

NOTE: External Traffic receivers are no longer available for purchase through Garmin, please see GTM 60 and GTM 36 Cables are Discontinued for more information.

To View Compatible External Traffic Receivers for Your Device:

1. 1. Go to Garmin.com
   2. Locate your device model
   3. On the device's product page, click Accessories
   4. Click Traffic Receivers

This will expand a list of traffic receiver accessories compatible with your device model. These receivers come with a lifetime traffic subscription, so no additional purchases are necessary.

Your device will not receive traffic information unless the cable is connected to your device and vehicle. Using the GPS device without the vehicle cable, or with a third-party vehicle cable, will result in no traffic information.