[PontiacJ8]

TROY — General Motors Corp.’s OnStar service on Thursday introduced vastly improved digital technology that also offers better voice recognition.

The voice recognition system, developed in conjunction with IBM Corp., now can understand entire phone numbers and names instead of one letter or digit at a time and combination digital and analog coverage.

The technology is the sixth upgrade since OnStar became available in 1996. OnStar is a wholly-owned subsidiary of GM that provides emergency and convenience services through wireless phone and satellite communications systems.

“It’s quicker and more intuitive,” said Walt Dorfstatter, OnStar’s chief engineer, about the upgrade.

The company is hoping improved voice recognition and digital technology will make it easier for drivers to take advantage of safer hands-free calling and improve its coverage area.

Full Story HERE

 

[Rex Raider]

I'm glad they're partnering with IBM and not Micro$oft.

Nothing worse than having to stop your car, close all the windows, and reboot it.

 

[cyboexpo2002]

Originally posted by Rex Raider@Feb 27 2004, 08:01 PM
I'm glad they're partnering with IBM and not Micro$oft.

Nothing worse than having to stop your car, close all the windows, and reboot it.

:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

 

[LGRpup]

:roflmao: Thats funny... Oh how we all love the monopoly, I wish that I would have gotten my TB in 02' then I would have gotten Onstar, they dropped it from being standard in LT trim in 03'.

 

[MCGARRETT]

How about.....


"It is now safe to turn off your car" before you shut down your car?

 

[mhraracing]

How about.......


Clicking on "start" to "shut down" your computer ???? :blink:

 

[Smilingoat]

Originally posted by MCGARRETT@Feb 27 2004, 10:27 PM
How about.....


"It is now safe to turn off your car" before you shut down your car?

are you living in the darkages man!?! that hasnt been around sense before XP. lol

is there anything really wrong with onstar, or are they just making it better? i cant wait to own a new car... im about a year and a half away from that...

 

[mgescuro]

Thank goodness I use a Mac.

 

[bakerna]

Bill Gates owns most of Apple PC

 

[thehemi]

The way 2004 seems to be going, OnStar should get
a nice Red Hat or SuSE emblem before year's end...

 

[jro4566]

I know this has almost nothing to do with those HILARIOUS comments about Microsoft and shutting down the computer, but...

will Suzuki ever get OnStar in its vehicles?? Subaru has! And so has Acura! Grr, I love my Suzuki but I wish it had OnStar!!!

 

[cyboexpo2002]

Originally posted by bakerna@Feb 28 2004, 02:43 AM
Bill Gates owns most of Apple PC

You mean Jobs, not Gates...

 

[ThomasM]

Originally posted by bakerna@Feb 28 2004, 02:43 AM
Bill Gates owns most of Apple PC

Microsoft or Bill Gates doen't own any of Apple anymore. In 1997, Microsoft bought $150 Million of non-voting shares, which is what I assume you are referring to. They have since sold them all off (at a nice profit). Even if they had held onto them, they would have virtually no say in the day-to-day operations because the shares were non-voting and they had not purchased enough to take a controlling stake. It was largely a symbolic gesture.

Pesonally, I really don't like OnStar. I have it in my '02 Trailblazer and didn't renew when the first free year expired. I can't stand additional subscription fees. I feel like I'm being nickeled and dimed to death every month these days with various subscription fees that didn't exist just a few years ago. If I could pay a flat fee for a lifetime of OnStar service, I would much rather do that. It could be structured like TiVo's fee structure in which it's the lifetime of the vehicle and not the lifetime of the owner.

The other thing that I really don't like about OnStar is that GM really seems to prefer it over the in-dash navigation systems that other manufacturers offer. You can't get the nav system until you move up to higher-level vehicles (although I was plesently surprised to see it as an option on the '03 Trailblazer). I feel that they're really falling behind in this respect. There's absolutely no technical reason as to why Chevy can't offer a nav system in the Malibu, especially since Honda offers one in their Accord. Even worse, there's no technical reason there a nav system can't be offered as an option in the US version of the Saab 9-3, since it's widely available an an option in Europe. GM would much rather soak us with recurring OnStar subscription fees then offer a decent nav system on it's bread and butter vehicles.

Oh, yeah. There's one more thing. The first gen onstar systems (which I believe are still being sold today) all run on the old-school analog cell system (AMPS). These won't work at all in a few years when the AMPS system is finally disabled by cell carriers. It handles far fewer calls than the more popular digital systems and is a valuable piece of the RF spectrum. Older onstar systems will be useless when this happens.

Supposedly, newer OnStar systems are being transitioned to CDMA, which could be really exiciting. CDMA's biggest network in the US is the Sprint PCS network, which features high data transfer rates. The cool thing about that is that we could finally get "real-time" navigation systems delivered over OnStar. These systems could do cool stuff like automatic re-routing around construction and congestion, weather and traffic aleats, up-to-date location information, and vehicle diagnostics. We've seen demos of all of this stuff for years - it's now actually a possibility. That would be an OnStar that I would pay for!