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May 2, 2005 |
By Michael Bettencourt
GM LEADS AUTOMAKERS MOTORING INTO NEW LAND OF SATELLIT E - DRIVEN GPS AND NAVIGATION SYSTEMS
When the best-selling, most monolithic and generally most conservative automaker in the world announced in January that every one of its consumer vehicles in Canada and the U.S. would be equipped with its OnStar telematics system by 2007, GM did more than raise the collective eyebrows of industry watchers.
With the move, GM made its biggest gamble yet that the mainstream automotive world will be ready for GPS (global positioning system) technology, at least on this continent. It will make GM the first full-line automaker to offer satellite tracking and automatic crash response as standard equipment in all its non-commercial vehicles, and brings the technology downmarket from its traditional haven in pricier ($40,000-plus) vehicles.
Should GM follow through with this pledge, it will put pressure on other mainstream brands to follow suit. The move will nearly triple the number of OnStar units produced, making North America home to more than three-quarters of the world’s telematics subscribers, despite only selling about a third of the world’s new vehicles, according to ABI Research in the U.S.
GM is pushing OnStar’s across-the-board implementation as part of a standard safety technology package that includes electronic stability control (a skid prevention system), antilock brakes and traction control, all of which are designed to help prevent collisions. If these systems can’t help you avoid trouble, OnStar automatically follows up any airbag-deploying crash with a call to the vehicle and, if so requested or if no response is received, provides the vehicle’s exact location to local emergency services.
SIMPLE HIGH TECH
OnStar’s unique features include voice-activated calling, remote checking of engine diagnostics and even the ability to unlock car doors with one phone call, all of which GPS navigation systems on their own don’t provide. But it’s purposely designed to appear as low-tech and user-friendly as possible. Three little buttons on the dash or rear-view mirror are easy to miss and there’s no glitzy screen that shouts OnStar’s high-tech features.
Terry Sullivan, vice-president of communications at OnStar, stresses the differences between navigation systems, which GM offers on many OnStar-equipped models, and the OnStar service itself. “We’re separate from navigation systems,” Sullivan said, as there are no screens or trick stereos needed. “The key to OnStar is its simplicity and value for the money.”
By 2019, telematics services (like OnStar) and satellite navigation systems will be as common in cars as CD players are now, predicted Clem Driscoll of wireless communications consulting firm C.J. Driscoll & Associates.
PRICEY, STILL
Yet questions remain on whether most consumers are ready to pay for such services, and if so, how much. Right now in Canada, OnStar is a $1,250 option, which includes one year’s worth of OnStar service. After the first year, OnStar costs $289 per year, or $24.95 per month plus tax, and about double those respective amounts for higher-level driving directions, with hotel and restaurant recommendations. According to Sullivan, the package pricing won’t go down after OnStar reaches all its vehicles in 2007.
Electronics consulting firm Strategy Analytics published a report in December that highlighted OnStar’s relatively slow rates of subscriber growth in the last two years, even when the number of vehicles offering the service has risen considerably over the same period. Even in technofriendly Japan, both Honda and Nissan have extended the free trial periods to three years to boost customer retention levels on their similar telematics systems.
There’s also the question of how deep GM’s level of commitment is to this highlevel GPS and safety technology. GM tried and then retreated from a smaller-scale move to upgrade standard safety equipment in the 1990s when it announced that ABS would become standard equipment on almost all the vehicles it sold in North America. GM backed away from that pledge in 2002, claiming the extra costs involved put its products at a competitive disadvantage. So if the cost of standard ABS was judged too rich to recoup by GM in 2002, either costs have plummeted or 2007 sales expectations have skyrocketed to the point where GM can afford to add ABS, Stabilitrak (vehicle stability enhancement system), traction control and OnStar to all its standard equipment lists.
Sullivan also noted that some advanced OnStar services are no longer offered, such as the Internet function that provided text-to-voice service, which would, for example, read out e-mails. “It’s no longer available because there was no demand for it, and there was a per-minute charge for it.” A December 2004 Strategy Analytics study concluded that GM should look at merging its OnStar and subscription XM satellite radio service (currently unavailable in Canada, but awaiting a springtime decision by the CRTC).
This merge, in fact, looks well on its way to arriving. GM Canada president Michael Grimaldi told The Globe and Mail in February there would be a “natural marriage” between the two satellite subscription services, and would allow future technologies to bring the Internet and movies to a Chevy near you.
SPACE - BASED COMMUNICATION
Other manufacturers are also hoping the CRTC will give its nod to U.S.-based satellite radio services in Canada as soon as possible, and not only for the hundred channels of clear, mostly commercial-free music. Honda Canada product specialist Anton Yewchyn-Pawczuk was heavily involved in bringing GPS navigation systems to the firm’s Canadian products, and said if XM satellite radio were available here it may make it possible to offer a navigation system that provides real-time traffic warnings, as it does in many major U.S. cities with the new-for-2005 Acura RL. “The first step is XM, and once we have that, then we could build a structure like [in the U.S.].”
This type of navigation system understands when and where there’s a big hold up, and automatically reroutes you around the problem thanks to government and commercial traffic flow charts compiled by a third-party company and beamed through the XM signal, said Yewchyn-Pawczuk. As long as you’ve programmed in your destination, the system will monitor traffic, weather and construction patterns along the exact route you’re taking. “It’ll say ‘There’s an accident here,’ through text on the screen or speech, so it won’t leave you thinking it’s taking you off course.”
Honda’s latest generation of navigation systems all offer some unexpected touches that makes them very easy to use. The Ontario-built 2006 Honda Ridgeline pickup truck will be the first Honda product to offer a DVD navigation system, which provides digital mapping for all regions of Canada.
Previous systems had big gaps or even no coverage in the Maritime and Prairie provinces. The Acura RL has a feature that allows certain areas to be averted in route calculations (say, high-crime neighbourhoods), while the Honda Odyssey’s system is smart enough to split the map screen in two once the low fuel light comes on: one side to show your original route, the other with directions to the nearest gas station. All have a “Talk” button on the steering wheel that can be used to easily manage the navigation system while on the move (by saying “Find nearest gas station,” for example), and that understands more than 500 commands.
RELATED GIZMOS
It’s these types of GPS navigation systems that seem to be finding favour with automotive manufacturers, and incrementally, with the general public. Their high initial cost, anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000, means they’re still mainly found in luxury vehicles, although a fully loaded Toyota Camry with a navigation system has an MSRP topping out at more than $40,000. It features a large colour screen that motors forward and out for the driver to access the six-disc CD changer slot, and another one for the DVD map.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the backup camera that’s optional on all Lexus SUVs. As soon as you place it into reverse, the rear-plate mounted camera projects a wide-angle view of what’s directly behind your bumper on the navigation screen on the dash, which is just about the ultimate whiz feature.
This navigation system uses Bluetooth technology to allow the driver’s stored phone numbers in a Bluetooth cellphone to be transferred to the navigation system and used through its touch screen.
If you really want to get racy with your car, the GPS can once again come in handy.
The forthcoming Audi LeMans Quattro’s navigation system has a track mode, which uses the GPS sensors to give a visual plan of the circuit and to compute precise lap times. This GPS time-synchronization feature also allows some cars to automatically change their clocks when driving over a time zone line.
Downloading music and having your e-mail or the sports section read to you as you drive are future possibilities once the wireless satellite connections get hooked up to the Internet. As Honda’s Yewchyn-Pawczuk said, “Once you have digital two-way communication and are connected to a satellite, I think the sky’s the limit.”
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