When it was introduced years back, OnStar was a feature that epitomized safety, convenience and peace of mind for its users. Fitted to GM vehicles, the system put real-time assistance at the drivers fingertips 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
OnStar is evolving with added features for the 2007 model year, and Popular Science has awarded the American carmaker its "Best of What's New" award
for its upgraded plan. The "Directions and Connections" plan, which includes turn by turn navigation service, beat out thousands of other products for the award.
The new plan will be available on more than 2 million cars and trucks sold in 2007 for both Canada and the US. It's extensive list of features includes vehicle diagnostics, navigation, hands-free calling, stolen vehicle assistance and more. The navigation capabilities are completely off-board, with an advisor sending the voice prompts to the vehicles stereo system which are then triggered by the GPS functionality .
"Since Popular Science honored us with the Best of What's New Award the year we were launched in 1996, OnStar has continued to evolve by focusing on customer-driven innovation including seven generations of hardware in ten years - an achievement typically unheard of in the traditional vehicle development process," said OnStar President, Chet Huber.
Staying on top of changing consumer demands is increasingly important, and GM's upgraded system answers a sharp increase in demand for in-car navigation systems among new car buyers. In fact, J.D. Power and Associates indicates that the demand for such systems has increased by some 40 percent in the past model year.
OnStar is evolving with added features for the 2007 model year, and Popular Science has awarded the American carmaker its "Best of What's New" award
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The new plan will be available on more than 2 million cars and trucks sold in 2007 for both Canada and the US. It's extensive list of features includes vehicle diagnostics, navigation, hands-free calling, stolen vehicle assistance and more. The navigation capabilities are completely off-board, with an advisor sending the voice prompts to the vehicles stereo system which are then triggered by the GPS functionality .
"Since Popular Science honored us with the Best of What's New Award the year we were launched in 1996, OnStar has continued to evolve by focusing on customer-driven innovation including seven generations of hardware in ten years - an achievement typically unheard of in the traditional vehicle development process," said OnStar President, Chet Huber.
Staying on top of changing consumer demands is increasingly important, and GM's upgraded system answers a sharp increase in demand for in-car navigation systems among new car buyers. In fact, J.D. Power and Associates indicates that the demand for such systems has increased by some 40 percent in the past model year.