General Motors Brings IBM Watson Into its Vehicles

By Rachel King and Mike Colias 

General Motors Co. is enlisting digital smarts from International Business Machines Corp.'s Watson in an effort to leapfrog other tech companies inside the car.

The auto maker Wednesday is unveiling a new version of its OnStar system to offer mobile-commerce services beyond navigation and entertainment. The enhanced system, dubbed OnStar Go, is designed to learn users' behavior to deliver personalized offers from partners such as Exxon Mobil Corp. For instance, the system might tell drivers they don't have enough fuel to make it to their next destination and point the way to Exxon Mobil locations en route.

OnStar is a GM subscription offering that provides navigation, diagnostics, security, hands-free calling, and access to a human helpdesk. The new features let users opt into relationships with retail partners that will be tracked by Watson. Partners will be able to offer drivers goods and services tailored to users' habits, location, and factors such as weather. The system doesn't currently respond to voice commands but will by late 2017, IBM said.

GM and IBM will share revenue with partners, though the companies declined to provide details of the arrangements. Current partners include Exxon Mobil, MasterCard Inc., parking lot directory Parkopedia, music provider iHeartMedia Inc., and Glympse, a location-aware messaging network.

GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said the goal is to optimize driving time by connecting drivers to the world outside their car. The system will use "the power of Watson to understand that consumer and make sure what we're putting in front of them is timely and relevant," she said.

OnStar Go is available in 2017 GM models, effective immediately, and will be in more than two million GM vehicles equipped with so-called 4G connections by the end of 2017. There is no extra charge beyond the monthly subscription fee.

The GM-IBM partnership comes as the auto industry is facing the challenge of bringing digital communications into cars. Consumers have complained about glitchy or hard-to-use user interfaces. On Monday, Consumer Reports withdrew its buy recommendation on the Honda Civic -- long a favorite of the influential publication -- largely because of owner complaints about the car's revamped infotainment system.

At the same time, tech giants including Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google have introduced systems that connect with their smartphone operating systems from inside cars. GM lets drivers use Apple's CarPlay and Google's Android Auto, but won't share information about the car, such as tire pressure, with those systems.

The trick for GM and IBM will be to develop features that can't be easily replicated by the tech companies, said Gartner Inc. analyst Mike Ramsey. For example, GM and IBM tout OnStar Go's ability to combine the system's knowledge of a driver's purchases at a favorite coffee shop and the outdoor temperature to offer a seasonally appropriate drink from a nearby shop.

GM infotainment chief Phil Abram said that, behind the wheel, it is safer and more useful to conduct commerce through a car rather than a smartphone. But he acknowledged that GM is most interested in developing features that relate specifically to the state of the vehicle because that is information an app provider won't have.

Write to Mike Colias at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 25, 2016 18:04 ET (22:04 GMT)

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