Google has bought Waze, a crowd-sourced navigation app start-up, for a reported $1.3bn (£835m).
The app combines online maps with updates from other users about traffic jams, road works and accidents.
The app essentially turns a smartphone into a web community-based GPS device, bringing elements of social networking to an online mapping service, to produce more precise directions and better information about traffic conditions.
Consequently, the takeover could help Google improve its own navigation system, Google Maps.
Brian McClendon, vice president at Geo said in a post on Google’s official blog: “To help you outsmart traffic, today we’re excited to announce we’ve closed the acquisition of Waze. This fast-growing community of traffic-obsessed drivers is working together to find the best routes from home to work, every day.”