DETROIT and LAS VEGAS – General Motors and IBM announced a partnership to bring OnStar and IBM Watson together to create OnStar Go, the auto industry’s first cognitive mobility platform.
Starting in early 2017, OnStar is expected to give millions of GM drivers the ability to connect and interact with their favorite brands by delivering personalized content through the dashboard and other digital channels supported by the OnStar Go ecosystem.
Combined, OnStar’s connectivity and data capabilities and IBM Watson APIs will create experiences that allow drivers and passengers to achieve greater levels of efficiency and safety. These experiences could include avoiding traffic when they’re low on fuel, then activating a fuel pump and paying from the dash; ordering a cup of coffee on the go; or getting personalized news and in-vehicle entertainment.
With the customer’s consent, Watson will learn the driver’s preferences, apply machine learning and sift through data to recognize patterns in their decisions and habits. This information will allow brand and marketing professionals working with IBM and OnStar to deliver individualized location-based interactions that directly impact their target audiences. Companies in retail, fuel, hospitality, media and entertainment, restaurants, travel and transportation, and more can use OnStar Go to build individualized mobile, in-vehicle experiences for a growing population of connected drivers that opt-in.
ExxonMobil, Glympse, iHeartRadio and Parkopedia are the first brands to join the platform. MasterCard has also integrated its MasterCard tokenization platform within OnStar Go to enable consumers to complete transactions using credit or debit cards stored in their Masterpass wallets.
“On average, people in the U.S. spend more than 46 minutes per day in their car and are looking for ways to optimize their time,” said Phil Abram, executive director, GM Connected Products and Strategy.
GM launched OnStar 20 years ago and expects to have 12 million On-Star connected vehicles on the road worldwide by the end of this year.