OnStar Faces Determined New Challenger
Atlanta-based Hughes Telematics will introduce a service similar to OnStar for all Chrysler vehicles, breaking GM’s stranglehold on the technology. The service will utilize voice-activation technology similar to Ford’s new Sync system, which operates MP3 players and cell phones. An unnamed luxury car brand is also slated to announce it’s signing onto the service as well.
Similar to OnStar, the service will have a monthly subscription fee (OnStar charges $28.95 a month or $18.95 a month, depending on the level of service) and will include emergency communications, street-by-street navigation and roadside assistance, in addition to voice commands that can activate iPods and mobile phones.
By combining two popular, innovative services, Hughes Telematics hopes to offer consumers an alternative to OnStar, which is the only player in the market right now. In addition, Hughes will offer a pay-as-you-go option, so if drivers only want to look up directions a few times a year or download a few specific songs, they can pay for each use individually — an option OnStar doesn’t offer.
The system will also offer a rather Orwellian service called “teen-tracking,” where the car will track if it has gone beyond a certain area or made repeated trips to locations deemed inappropriate. No word yet as to whether the satellite service will then link into the radio to scold the teenager.
Upstart to Vie for OnStar’s Territory (Detroit Free Press)
Previous
Subscribe to our feed
Email us your tips!
Will this new partnership also fix the cheap, plasticky interiors found in most Chrysler products, or the deletions of standard equipment that have occurred since 2005?
I wouldn't touch anything even remotely related to Chrysler. I've suffered through two JGC's and that was more than enough for me. I didn't realize the quality a vehicle could obtain until I bought a V8 4Runner and my wife an Acura TL. With Nardelli now running Chrysler I can assure you that quality will probably stay the same.
I've been lusting for a Jeep Grand Cherokee for years and was finally ready to buy one. My niece and her husband had driver GCs for about 5 years and were on their third "pair" - they traded every couple of years. When I told them I was going to buy a GC, they asked me if I was insane. They had problem after problem, and every time they took it in, "all the loaners were taken." Yeah, right. Needless to say, I didn't buy a Jeep OR a Chrysler product.