Introduced in the late 90s, OnStar innovated by offering vehicle owners General Motors remote emergency services, maintenance and consultation. After 25 years of exclusivity on its vehicles, GM offers service to everyone, regardless of the vehicle, through a new mobile application called OnStar Guardian.
Originally, this app was released in June 2020, but only for users of GM vehicles. The idea was to migrate a service that was previously integrated in the vehicle to the owner’s smartphone.
Guardian is now available to all Canadian motorists for a monthly subscription of $ 15. The app is available on iOS and Android.
Like its predecessor, OnStar Guardian makes it easy to get in touch with a service employee quickly for emergency, vehicle maintenance, or consultation services, such as finding any location or even recommending a restaurant.
At the time of a collision, OnStar automatically detects that the vehicle is involved in an accident and alerts first responders. A service representative contacts the occupants of the vehicle to offer moral support while awaiting the arrival of authorities. OnStar can even lock the doors and immobilize a vehicle in the event of theft or roadside assistance.
The Guardian Application goes a little further by allowing to add a “family” and to follow the movement of each individual in real time thanks to the sharing of the positioning.
With the arrival of connected vehicles which integrate more and more remote functions, General Motors certainly had to adapt. Motorists rely more than ever on mobile applications for communication, audio and navigation.
Now, will consumers see any use in a world where everything is now easily accessible through a free app? We’ll talk about that in a few months when OnStar Guardian subscription data is released.
