New Toyota Telematics System to Battle GM's OnStar?

The system can be optimized to automatically contact occupants of a vehicle if an airbag is deployed, via a 24-hour operation

G-Book Alpha can unlock a door when the keys are locked inside, or assist authorities in finding a stolen vehicle. (Photo: Toyota Canada)

centre. If no-one responds, an ambulance would be dispatched to the accident site.

This might not seem like anything particularly new, at least for those who already enjoy the same security through OnStar. Like the GM-developed system, G-Book Alpha can unlock a door when the keys are locked inside a vehicle, or assist authorities in finding a stolen vehicle.

GM has been promoting OnStar with an effective series of multimedia ads, the first series featuring actual conversations between users and the system's call centre and the most recent targeting guilt-ridden parents, who would never think of putting their kids in a car without the safety feature; or so the ad assumes.

GM plans on making OnStar standard across its entire lineup by 2007, a cost it will easily be able to recoup from selling the monthly charge necessary to take advantages of all the services.

New vehicle buyers of cars featuring OnStar get free service for a predetermined period of time, so that they can

While Toyota didn't say if the new service would be sold outside of Japan, it only makes sense that it eventually will. (Photo: Toyota Canada)

test it out and hopefully, for GM, realize that life is not as good without it. The OnStar service is a more constant revenue stream than new car sales, and therefore critical to an automaker's bottom line.

Such are reasons enough for Toyota to get into the game, and it will start by fitting its G-Book Alpha system into a variety of new or significantly updated models this month in its Japanese home market. While Toyota didn't say if the new service would be sold outside of Japan, it only makes sense that it eventually will.