The Ultimate Connected Car

OnStar is showing off an interesting concept car at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It's a vehicle that shows off the capabilities of the next generation of cellular communications, commonly called 4G.

"Verizon asked us to sort of do a stretch exercise and see how many creative ways we can extract data in an in-vehicle setting to make somebody's life more convenient," says OnStar President Chris Preuss.

Preuss telling WWJ AutoBeat Reporter Jeff Gilbert that they brainstormed to try to determine what could be done in a vehicle, if it was constantly connected to the Internet, using a broadband data connection.

General Motors Video of OnStar Connected Car.

A press relase from General Motors detailed the capabilities of their concept vehicle:

• Vehicle monitoring. Tiny cameras mounted throughout the interior and exterior of the car to allow remote viewing of what is happening in and around a parked vehicle through a smart phone or PC.
• Impact detection. The research vehicle has the ability to send out live video to secure servers in the cloud from each of its six cameras placed around the exterior and interior of the vehicle. This is triggered by events around the car, or by an application on your smart phone. When an impact is detected, such as a parking lot fender-bender, the vehicle transmits a video clip – making it possible to identify offending drivers.
• Voice Portal. You can safely connect through voice commands to call up top web sites such as YouTube, Twitter, Wikipedia and Verizon VCAST on the dashboard display.
• Home monitoring and control. OnStar allows for a connection to home security cameras in real time through the 4Home service. Control the thermostat, lights and other home systems from the vehicle.
• Electronic User's Guide. Learn how to operate and maintain the vehicle through videos streamed on demand to the dashboard.
• Video chat. Make a video call using Skype to connect with family, friends or colleagues.
• Traffic view. A voice-operated navigation system goes beyond calculating the best route by displaying live traffic-cam images from TrafficLand to spot congestion.

While a lot is possible with the higher speed connection, Preuss says the issue now is to find out what customers would want, and what they would value. That's why the first place they went was the nation's largest technology show. But the OnStar President said the growth of smart phones is an indication that there's a lot of interest in connectivity.

The first 4G networks are starting to arrive, and the technology should be fairly common in the next few years.

"The data loads are just exponentially higher," said Preuss. "They are even faster than anything you've experienced, probably, in your home with a cable modem or a DSL modem."