Students at the University of Michigan and four other universities across the country will get a unique opportunity to try their hand at designing the next OnStar application to be used in vehicles. 

The 2011 OnStar Student Developer's Challenge, which officially kicked off Monday, asks students to develop an in-vehicle voice-enabled application that provides solutions in "responsible connectivity," "informed driving" or "location-based services."

The other participating schools are the University of Texas, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Toledo.

Students may register individually or in teams. Six semi-finalists will win an all expense-paid trip to O'Reilly's Where 2.0 Conference in Santa Clara, Calif., where they will present their application to a panel of judges, who will choose the grand prize winner. The winner (individual or team) will get their choice of one of four Developer Dream Packages each valued at $10,000.

Students have through March 11 to submit their applications. In late January, OnStar Student Developer Challenge Workshops will visit each university to help students get started and answer any questions.

Details on the sections of the competition are as follows: 

Responsible Connectivity: Keeping drivers safely connected to infotainment options.
Informed Driving: Using vehicle information to improve the driving experience.
Location: Using location-based information to enhance the driver's lifestyle, increase productivity or plan travel.
 
The judges will include OnStar IT and engineering executives as well as Robert Scoble, Scobleizer; Daniel Jacobson, director of engineering for the API, Netflix; David Pogue, technology columnist, New York Times and Valerie Casey, founder, Designer's Accord.

During the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show, OnStar announced a public pilot of the OnStar Voice Communications App for Android mobile phones. Via a Bluetooth connection, drivers can send and receive text messages and Facebook updates using only their voices -- keeping their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road.

More at www.onstardeveloperchallenge.com.