Around the Net
Commerce Added As Part of Connected Cars
- PC World, Tuesday, January 6, 2015 9 AM
The future of the connected car involves—coupons? Yep, and that appears to be the commercial tradeoff for the convenience of road-trip Internet access. General Motors, which leads the industry in building 4G LTE connectivity into cars—over 30 model-year 2015 autos will have it—is also leading the way into a new world of connected-car services. At a press conference on Sunday before the Consumer Electronics show, the company introduced several new OnStar programs designed to ease road trips and general maintenance. The services will require an active OnStar subscription. What this means to you: General Motors isn’t putting 4G LTE into all of its cars just so your kids can watch YouTube videos in the back seat. The new services show how car companies can use that bandwidth to interact more with the car and its driver—building trust, and also building more business opportunities. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this, but it’s a new concept: The connected car becomes a vehicle for consumerism.
