OnStar, the emergency service, vehicle diagnostic and direction system, was founded in 1995 as a collaboration between GM, EDS and Hughes Electronics Corp.
It consists of mobile phone networks and location information using GPS technology. Drivers and passengers can use its audio interface to contact OnStar representatives.
When a driver presses the Red OnStar Emergency button or Blue OnStar button, current vehicle data and the user's GPS location are immediately gathered and sent to OnStar centers in either Charlotte, North Carolina or Oshawa, Ontario.
OnStar was launched at the 1996 Chicago Auto Show and it was available in the 1997 model Cadillac DeVille, Seville, and Eldorado.
Much has happened since, and the service now includes voice navigation, a new service I first noticed when recently reviewing a 2008 Cadillac CTS.
The OnStar information packed noted the the program now has about 5 million subscribers and there was also a list of interesting statistics on the service. Considers:
On a monthly average, OnStar receives:
52,000 remote door unlock requests, 30,000 roadside assistance calls, 15 million hands-free calling requests, 1,200 airbag deployment notifications, 2.4 million vehicle diagnostic e-mail reports, 500 stolen vehicle location assistance reports, 15,000 emergency calls, 342,000 routing calls and 53,000 GM Goodwrench remote diagnostic requests.
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