When you're stuck in traffic, do you itch for your e-mail? Do you long for Internet access to keep the kids entertained during long drives? Well, General Motors Corp. has just what you're looking for.
The auto giant on Wednesday announced plans to bring e-mail and the Web to select cars by the 2001 model year. The company's Cadillac Seville and DeVille models will offer a Web-enabled system, dubbed "Cadillac Infotainment," that will read e-mail to drivers while the car is in motion as well as allow drivers to download e-mail to a wireless device so it can be read later.
Also by 2001, GM's current OnStar in-car navigation service, available in 30 different types of GM cars, will allow users to make and receive phone calls from the vehicle as well as offer hands-free audio access to personalized Web data such as stock quotes and news headlines.
"The Internet has conditioned us to want instant access to information and e-mail, and that desire doesn't go away when a person enters a car," said Mark Hogan, president of the Detroit-based auto maker's e-GM unit.
Safety concerns
GM officials are conscious of the potential risk of distraction to drivers, Hogan said during a conference call, so most of the new in-vehicle Web and e-mail tools will be voice-enabled. He added that having an imbedded system in the car dial a phone number while one drives is safer than using a conventional cell phone while driving.
"We're doing what we can to see that these tools are used safely and to minimize the time that people take their eyes off the road and their hands off the wheel," Hogan said.
The Cadillac Infotainment system includes a map screen, a CD-ROM drive, a cell-phone dock, a wireless device port, a voice memo recorder and audio navigation instructions, GM officials said. The screen menus for using the navigational map is disabled if the car is moving -- drivers can only get directions in audio form with the car in motion, officials said.
"It's important to mention that the system delivers information in the format consumers are used to -- it's just like radio, except the information is what the driver wants to hear," Hogan said.
Pricing for Cadillac Infotainment and the OnStar cell phone service has not yet been set, officials said. But pricing for the phone service is likely to be competitive with other national wireless phone pricing plans, GM officials said.
