Recent studies suggest that the only thing more dicey than drinking while driving is texting your friends while behind the wheel. So it is clearly poetic justice that GM’s OnStar, the emergency technology that has been getting us out of a ditch, wants to use their satellite know-how to help us stay out of the ditch in the first place.
Their solution? Voice-activated texting. That’s right, soon we will all be able to Facebook, text and Twitter from our cars without ever taking a finger off our steering wheels. All through that exclusive technology built right into the dash of our Chevy or other fine GM product.
OnStar’s latest ad campaign describes it this way: “Safely connecting you in ways you never thought possible.” According to AdAge.com’s recent interview with GM executive Sam Macuso, this added benefit of OnStar could be a giant breakthrough for the GM brand. (Admittedly, it’s coolest thing to happen to General Motors since the Caddy Escalade became Hip Hop’s bling-mobile of choice.)
But safety is focus here. After all, this is OnStar we’re talking about. Right? “To do a normal text message takes 4.6 seconds, and at the speed of 55 miles an hour, someone can travel the length of a football field,” explains Macuso. “We know that people want to use technology, but we are working on using it in ways that they don't have to be distracted.”
This totally genius mash-up of emergency technology and Social Media is currently being beta-tested throughout the U.S. So don’t expect to be able to rush out and buy it on your new champagne-beige Buick. But who knows? Soon OnStar and Facebook could be definite BFFs. After all, crazier things have happened.
