Detroit and Denver (April 25, 2007) – GM’s OnStar and MapQuest announced a collaboration that will allow OnStar subscribers to plan their driving route on MapQuest.com and send their destination right to OnStar’s Turn-by-Turn Navigation service.
This new Turn-by-Turn service enhancement, OnStar Web Destination Entry, will allow subscribers to use MapQuest.com to research and plan their driving destinations with more than 15 million points-of-interest available through the most popular mapping site on the internet.
General Motors and OnStar, the provider of satellite beamed in-vehicle safety, security and communication services, are making its navigation service, OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation, available to more than 2 million vehicles in 2007 and an additional 3 million vehicles in 2008.
GM claims that this reach will allow it to offer the most navigation options across more vehicle segments and price ranges than any other vehicle manufacturer. Teaming up with MapQuest will give OnStar something that GPS devices don’t offer.
“Our 10 years of experience have taught us that life happens when you’re driving,” said OnStar President Chet Huber. “The value of OnStar Web Destination Entry, which combines the powerfully-simple technology of OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation with the leading consumer Web site for maps and directions, MapQuest®, is added flexibility for our subscribers. The new service enhancement will allow them to use the Web to plan their destination while having the freedom to start the journey from wherever they want.”
OnStar and MapQuest will start the Web Destination Entry with a pilot program in the summer of 2007 with a select group of about 3000 OnStar subscribers. The subscribers will be chosen to insure there is a good representation across the country. They want to make sure it works in all kinds of terrain before rolling it out. The goal is to make OnStar Web Destination Entry available to all OnStar subscribers with Turn-by-Turn Navigation-capable vehicles by the end of 2007.
GM will use the pilot program not only work out any bugs in the system but also to get ideas from the users about what features they would like to see. One of the things the engineers are looking at is creating city tours that you can download to your vehicle. Say if you're going to Washington, D.C. and want to take in all the monuments, you’ll be able to call that trip up on MapQuest and port it to your car so you have a built-in series of directions and don’t have to input each one before you make your trip. There aren’t any plans yet to allow users to capture routes they’ve taken for later downloading and sharing but who knows what the engineers will devise. MapQuest sees this as a way to extend its reach into the automotive travel arena with a new service.
“One of our goals at MapQuest is to make it convenient and easy for our users to plan their journey on their desktop computers and send the information to their cars. We are thrilled to be working with the world’s largest auto manufacturer to bring our great services to OnStar customers,” said Jim Greiner, Senior Vice President and General Manager of MapQuest. “This represents another example of how we are extending our ability to help consumers access MapQuest services whenever and wherever they need them.”
OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation, a GM exclusive, was first introduced in February 2006 on the Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS. It is available as a part of OnStar’s suite of safety, security and communication services.
OnStar Turn-by-Turn Navigation is included in the first year of service on all 2007 Buicks and nearly all 2007 Cadillacs and a number of other 2007 GM vehicles. It is also available for a $100 service plan upgrade on many other 2007 GM cars and trucks during the first year of service.
If you’re one of the lucky ones to be chosen for the pilot program you’ll be able to see if knowing where you’re going helps to insure that one good turn leads to another.
More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com
More information about OnStar can be found at www.onstar.com.
Related Items:
