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Onstar has been developed by General Motors to provide functions that guide drivers and summon help in case of an emergency. Using cellular technology and a receiver that picks up signals from the satellites of the Global Positioning System, a subscriber’s car can report its location to a command centre, and the driver can communicate with an operator or with a voice-recognition system through a hands-free microphone and the car’s speakers. Additional services are built around small screens on the dashboard that display maps and other information.

General Motors ran a successful television advertising campaign in 2000 for its Onstar service that generated worldwide publicity and curiosity about the increasingly diverse applications of wireless technology. The commercials focused on Onstar’s capability to help stranded motorists or provide directions to the service’s 1.5 million subscribers. As Onstar equipment makes it technically possible for the system to know a car’s location at any time, information could be used to deliver highly specific advertisements pointing the driver to a convenient local restaurant or store. The dangers centre upon distracted drivers compromising road safety and the Onstar brand being damaged by a barrage of marketing ploys that outweigh the benefits of the system to e driver. (The wireless phone industry will soon confront the same dilemma, as the S government pushes it to add tracking features to phones for safety reasons.)

However, Onstar seems more interested in advertising that is tied to content, rather than to a subscriber’s location. Since May 2001, owners of some GM models have been able to subscribe to Onstar’s ‘Virtual Advisor’. The $399 yearly service gives access to investment accounts, sport scores, horoscopes, weather reports, stock quotes, customized news and other personal information. Subscribers obtaining stock quotes from the service are told that the information is sponsored by Fidelity Investments. If they have a Fidelity account, they can connect to an automated Fidelity system and trade stocks while they drive.

In 2002, developers of these `telematic’ services hope to reach beyond the Onstar image to include a wide array of information services and mobile commerce initiatives benefiting from the technology. For example, Chrysler now offers hands-free cell phone access as an option on its cars, which will be incorporated as a factory-installed accessory by 2003. Using B luetooth wireless technology to communicate with any cell- phone both in and out of the car, the unit includes a dashboard-mounted receiver and a microphone embedded in the rear-view mirror and phone. While the system works with any carrier and phone number, AT&T Wireless was picked as Chrysler’s preferred provider. Despite the safety and privacy concerns mentioned above, participating companies are coming under increasing pressure to recoup some of their significant development costs. Consequently, they are starting to add advertising and ‘mobile commerce’ to the mix, while claiming that their subscribers will not be subject to the dashboard equivalent of junk email and annoying pop-up ads. Wingcast, for example, a joint venture of Ford Motor and Qualcomm, plans to offer a ‘gas station locator’ feature soon after its service is introduced in mid-2002. Subscribers can set up a personal profile on the service’s Web site, then designate their preferred petrol station chains. When fuel is running low, a computerized voice will notify the driver and offer directions to the nearest station. Other services might let the driver know which petrol station in the area has the lowest prices, whether a favourite department store is having a sale or when a specific new CD is available at a music outlet nearby. Services like Wingcast could potentially charge companies for the right to send marketing messages to their customers, or get a cut when a transaction takes place.

Of course, drivers already listen to unsolicited commercial messages every day on their car radio. Philip J. Rowland of the consulting firm McKinsey and Co. predicts a shift from traditional radio to digital audio services for drivers. This might mix personalized information such as local traffic reports with advertising messages that the subscriber has agreed to receive. Mr Rowland said the increased automation of telematics services, using voice recognition and other technologies, should lower the cost significantly, and growth could also be driven by loyalty programmes for petrol stations and airlines. For example, a service might let a driver know about a chance to earn frequent-flier miles by shopping at a store nearby.

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