General Motors and On-Star have now expanded their offering to include many of the General Motors brands of cars and are providing the first year of service for free. It appears as if many drivers do not believe that safety alone is enough reason to pay for this type of service. So the race is on to add value to the services offered. What you will see in the next year or so are existing offerings being upgraded and new offerings coming on line that will include up to the minute traffic reports, rerouting around congestion, important email alerts and other personalized features and functions. It is anybody's guess at this point what the driving public will want to have access to and whether it will want it delivered by voice or via data on a screen in the car.
Location based services play well into the telematics market.
Many cars today are equipped with a GPS system that determines the almost precise location of the car and if this information is then fed wirelessly to a call center, as is the case with the OnStar system, or other back-end service, there can be some interesting service built around knowing where you and your car are located. There is likely to be rejection from some consumers who are uneasy that such systems are able to determine where the car is located, and even how fast it is going and in what direction. But I believe that the industry will put enough checks and balances in place that we will all be comfortable with the entire process. So what lies ahead is a world where are cars are wirelessly connected to the Internet, and we will have access to a whole set of personalized news, weather, and sports options, real time traffic, the ability to find the nearest Starbucks and perhaps get a coupon for a discount. In the back seat our kids may be able to download the latest game, video or audio clip to view on their screen, and it not beyond probability that two teenagers in two cars thousands of miles apart will be competing against each other in a game of skill.