At one of the checkpoints, a scanning machine resembling a car wash passes over a lorry delivering building materials.

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Scott Henshaw recently started using a credit-card reader that plugs into his smartphone at his family business, Pacific Transportation Technologies LLC, a machine shop in Kirkland, Wash.

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In the first stage, normal devices are outfitted with "smarter" features, like advanced cruise control in cars or a washing machine that can sense the level of dirt in water and react by adjusting its wash time.

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