OnStar has been around for 15 years now and in that time has grown to become what many people think of as an essential service in their cars. Available exclusively on General Motors vehicles, it can provide directions at the touch of a button and, even more importantly, help during an emergency. Now they are expanding the service to include three new features that will make your life easier and maybe even help save you a little cash.
It’s one thing to have a warning light for low oil, low washer fluid, or that dreaded check engine light, but now OnStar can help you know about a problem before it actually causes an issue. There is new predictive technology that uses OnStar’s 4G LTE connectivity to provide data streams from sensors monitoring different systems within your car. If it senses something is not as it should be, then it can send you a notification in plenty of time for you to address the problem.
You don’t have to wait for an email or a phone call either. It can just send a message directly to your car so you’ll get the notification while you’re driving. This is pretty fascinating tech as it uses fancy algorithms to constantly monitor your car’s performance and see into the future. I would like this on every gadget I own.
The new service will also expand your ability to monitor things like tire pressure and oil levels. Rather than just the monthly summary available now, these things will be able to be monitored around the clock. These features will all roll out starting with the 2016 Chevrolet Equinox, Tahoe, Suburban, Corvette, Silverado, and Silverado HD in select models.
Another new OnStar feature that will be available on all 2016 and even some 2015 and earlier model years will be Driver Feedback which will let you take advantage of possible insurance discounts through Progressive Insurance. With your consent, OnStar will compile a report with driving metrics that evaluate your driving style over the course of 90 days.
They will then share this with Progressive which may be able to offer driving discounts based on safe driving habits. You don’t even have to share it with Progressive if you don’t like the results. The choice is yours, so you’re in control of how your data is shared and if it will ever be seen by Progressive.
Lastly is OnStar AtYourService which provides a host of features that includes the ability for OnStar agents to assist with finding hotels and even booking your reservation. A partnership with Priceline will not only find a nearby hotel, but also help get a better rate than you might find on your own.
Additional partnerships with RetailMeNot and Entertainment Book will give you digital coupons for retailers in your area. They’ll even help you find a place to park with Parkopedia and provide something to pass the time on road trips with Audiobooks.com. These are just the first partnerships in a service they expect to grow over time to help you find what you need, when you need it. This service will roll out throughout the year.
Cars have all sorts of fancy infotainment systems, but the big complaint is making everything easy to use, intuitive, and actually helpful to drivers and passengers. OnStar is doing an increasingly great job of bridging the gap between what we want tech to do, and what it actually does in practice.
Right now, you may think of OnStar as your emergency backup plan or your instant source of directions, but these new services aim to make OnStar your source for anything and everything when you’re on the road.
