Onstar Navigation System to Deliver In-Car Spam

pneuma_66 writes: "According to the New York Times (Free reg, don't cha know) navigation systems, like OnStar, are planning to deliver ads based on the car's location. For example, the system will 'notify' the driver of sales in nearby stores. The vp of OnStar says "The privacy and the confidentiality of our subscribers are of the utmost importance", well lets see how the big companies play with this new wealth of information."

Comments

This will last right up until the first accident

[Dredd13]

Picture the scenario, you're concentrating on where you're going, because you've never been there before, its hectic traffic, somewhere in the city, where the ordeal of keeping track of pedestrians and cars is enough to deal with. Suddenly, your attention is jolted elsewhere by a voice in your car (you're alone), you take your eyes off the road to find the source of voice which says "Up ahead on the right is Foobar's. Foobar's is having a sale on diapers right now!"... by the time you realize its a crummy OnStar ad, and return your attention to the road, it's too late to notice the bicyclist chewing on your grill.

So when the bicyclist sues you, and you in turn pin it on OnStar, that's when this shit will be nipped in the bud.

Too weird

[Mike McTernan]

All the in car nav systems I have seen/used always pop up a box warning the driver not to use the system while driving. I guess this allows the manufacturer to disclaim liability problems that might happen for accidents with claims like "I was looking at my nav system when I hit x..."

So on the one hand we are discouraged to use the device then driving around, and to only look it at to get directions, but now the device is going to be advertising junk - trying to get our attention?

Seems like a liable case waiting to happen, unless it only displays spam when the vehicle is detected to be stationary (which would make the spam low volume->not spam).

simple solution

[Lumpy]

Dont buy Onstar. Buy an aftermarket Nav system that isn't going to rob you blind monthly and then for the quarterly navigation disc updates. (Nothing like a forced upgrade.. your navdisks are too old, please replace them with a newer version...)

There are several Car computing/navigation systems out there. Hell if you want one that is cheap but the first one out there buy an autopc off of ebay. (Dont pay any more than $600.00 for a new one with gps and nav... I've seen them at the "super deals that cost $5.00 to get in" around here for $550.00 with software.)

The biggest problem with most of these navigation systems is that they use the really crappy maps from navtech corperation.. They make the worst map database on the planet... if the city is below 1,000,000 in population it isn't on the disc. and errors will stay there for years before they fix them.

The best nav-system I saw was a Q-pc car computing platform running linux and then running delorme with wine... it rocked, and the 4 year old disc database was perfectly useable if you were interested in addresses or routes...

only problem is that the Q-pc with display is about $3000.00.... ICK... anyone have a nice 4.5 inch 800X600 TFT lcd that can withstand -60degF and has touchscreen? I'll design the vehicle mounted computer. :-)

Re:First reaction

[aozilla]

My second reaction, upon seeing it is opt-in, is who's stupid enough to sign up for this?

The yellow pages is opt-in advertising, but people still use it every day to find out the locations of certain types of stores. All they have to do is get a large enough number of stores to participate so that I can say "Onstar, where is the nearest pizza place. Place an order for a large pepperoni pie.", and there will be plent of people signing up for it. Hell, I'd probably consider signing up for it, if it was free like the yellow pages.

Not to be a Luddite, but...

[rknop]

...this just confirms that "a map" may be the best navigation system out there, if only because it's quiet.

And "a book" may be the best way to read a book, because you can carry it with you and read it wherever, even without violating the law.

What I'm afraid of is the day where you can't get 99% of the books in paper, and where cars come with always-on navigation and "security monitoring" systems which blare ads at you without your ability to stop it.

I'm not afraid of technology. I'm afraid of the dunderheads we have running our world, and what they will do with technology (or anything else).

-Rob

Re:How's this different from radio?

[ReadParse]

The difference from radio is enormous, and I struggle to imagine how anybody could make the comparison.

Radio is free. As you probably know, the government licenses broadcasters to use the airwaves, because the bandwidth is so limited (I mean bandwidth in the radio sense). This is also why the goverment tightly regulates that industry, limiting programming and requiring a certain amount of public service, such as news and other public service announcements.

Why would anybody do this? Because it's a fantastic tool that you can't just go out and buy or manufacturer. Within the government restrictions, you can provide whatever programming people want to hear and also play advertisements, which pays for all of the programming, and pays for everything else. Without commercials, radio doesn't exist.

No, you didn't "request" the ad. You turned on the radio and listened to the station's programming. This is not a new arrangement, and you knew the rules going in. Radio stations play commercials... that's the way it is. Before anybody mentions their local "commercial free" station as a response to this, any radio station of that sort only exists because it's a "sister station" of another station that DOES play commercials, and news, and PSAs, and everything else that the government and financial considerations require.

Back to OnStar. Having read the New York Times article, I have a different and more accurate understanding of it then the Slashdot headline provided. This is not as much "ads you didn't request", as it is information that you have specified you are interested in.

How it works

[GMwrench]

Let me preface I'm a Chevrolet mechanic.
First Onstar uses the car's speakers. It stops the radio feed then the Onstar operator can speak to you through them. I don't think GM will brake into the radio signal just to send an add, sense this will only piss off paying customers. You have to pay for Onstar. The first year is free but after that it's a subscription.
Now how it works. It has 3 parts a GPS sender, a cell phone receiver, and a control module. The GPS sensor records the car's position. The control module calls the Onstar center every 10 minutes if memory serves. It will also send messages such as the air bag has gone off and the operator can call you assuming you still have power. There are also blue Onstar and red emergency buttons you can press to initiate a call.
Now there is a lot of Big Brother things that can be done with this system but I don?t think Spam is one that GM would stoop to. However I wouldn?t do anything illegal in an Onstar equipped vehicle.