OnStar: The Hollowing

'The time has come,' the Walrus said,

'To talk of many things:

Of shoes - and ships - and sealing-wax -

Of cabbages - and kings -

And why the sea is boiling hot -

And whether pigs have wings.'

- 'The Walrus and The Carpenter,' Lewis Carroll

General Motors' announced plan to abandon the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit for more modest accommodations speaks volumes of the diminished circumstances of this once-iconic American auto maker. Yet the high profile departures from multiple global markets, the increasing dependence upon sales and production from China, the serial failures of initiatives including self-driving cars, car sharing, and electric vehicles all pale beside the unwinding of the crown jewel of the connected car industry: OnStar.

With the departure of Chief Digital Officer Edward Kummer in the wake of multiple OnStar Insurance class action lawsuits (following the alleged mishandling of customer driving data), and a subsequent reorganization, OnStar has ceased to exist as a standalone entity or organization. This is an ominous moment for the automotive industry poised as it is on the precipice of a massive powertrain switch, rising highway fatalities, and a future defined by automated or semi-automated driving.

OnStar's unwinding has been more than 10 years in the making including a conga line of flailing CEOs, a rebranding as "Global Connected Consumer," and a shift in focus toward connected services including Wi-Fi and streaming audio and video. It is as if OnStar renounced or simply became bored with its founding purpose - to aid drivers in distress.

At the very moment in the industry when vehicle connectivity is seeing increasing complexity and sophistication setting the stage for enhanced collision avoidance and collision response, OnStar has utterly lost the thread. Today, at the COVESA Connected Safety Birds of a Feather meeting, executives will be gathering in Gothenburg, Sweden, to discuss the next generation of emergency response.

RoadMedic and the LiDAR Saving Lives safety coalition are driving the next generation crash response conversation, pulling together an eco-system of crash response partners to redefine the after-crash value proposition and save lives. COVESA is providing a prominent platform to amplify these efforts.

Rather than leading this campaign to evolve crash response technology, OnStar appears to be sitting it out. The good news is that General Motors joined COVESA in 2023 and is in the perfect position to rejoin the conversation on crash response.

The core issue for next generation crash response solutions is the rapid transmission of vehicle data from crash scenes and the integration of those data inputs with cloud resources for vehicle and driver information - including extrication guidelines for first responders interacting with crashed EVs. But the crash avoidance and response story is rapidly being enriched by the integration of Wi-Fi, C-V2X, and, soon, satellite connectivity.

GM has not killed the OnStar brand, but it has hollowed it out in the interest of identifying revenue generating opportunities such as usage-based insurance and other subscription or on-demand payment opportunities. GM's callous, carefree, and clueless handling of the OnStar brand and value proposition in recent years is alarming but reversible.

Unlike the Walrus and the Carpenter, GM must take care, embrace its life preserving responsibilities and retake the throne of crash response thought leadership. The COVESA Connected Safety Birds of a Feather working group represents the perfect opportunity for such a recovery.

Not only is crash response essential for saving lives it is also at the core of customer retention. More than any other car maker, GM understands the importance of car connectivity in retaining customers. For decades OnStar was there for GM's customers at their lowest point of customer satisfaction - after a crash - and their highest point of customer defection. Nothing is more affecting than listening to those post-crash calls with a reassuring OnStar agent.

How about it GM? It's not too late to show us all how we ought to be doing this. The COVESA Connected Safety working group is ready for your close up.