How will the Internet of Vehicles, the "second engine" of automobiles, drive the development of future automobiles?

At the recent Shanghai Auto Show, OnStar used its own booth for the first time, vividly simulating a day in the future of connected cars for users. From June 11 to 13, OnStar also officially landed on the stage of the 5th Asian Consumer Electronics Show, showing its breakthroughs in cutting-edge technology in a more comprehensive way and bringing users a new experience of the upgraded interconnection between people, cars and life.

　　Years of hard work to start the "second engine"

　　OnStar has been in China for nearly a decade since GM, SAIC Motor and SAIC-GM jointly invested in the establishment of a joint venture in 2009. After years of technology research and development and data accumulation, OnStar has continuously upgraded its connectivity functions and expanded its service scenarios, providing solid and powerful vehicle safety information services for SAIC-GM models.

　　When the Internet of Vehicles was still in its infancy, OnStar provided users with convenient travel services and timely emergency rescue services through the full-time voice-controlled navigation function and SOS function derived from the online real-time services in the car. What is valuable is that when other automobile manufacturers did not pay attention to the development of the Internet of Vehicles, OnStar had already completed the exploration of an in-car service model, and implanted the label of its powerful technological attributes in the minds of domestic users early on.

　　After that, with the continuous upgrading of intelligent network technology and the closer integration of other technologies with automobiles, OnStar realized that the simple navigation service, the initial Internet of Vehicles service, could no longer meet the increasingly broad needs of users. Based on this, OnStar, through years of deep cultivation in the field of Internet of Vehicles, took the lead in proposing the concept of Internet of Vehicles as the "second engine" of automobiles, emphasizing the importance of soft services to the future vehicle experience.

　　In terms of specific functions, it is understood that the latest version of OnStar 9.0 can provide users with 22 services in 7 categories, including mobile APP applications, emergency rescue, and vehicle condition detection. Among them, the vehicle condition detection service can also generate a detailed vehicle condition report for you through online detection according to your specific needs to ensure the real-time safety of the vehicle.

　　On the other hand, the Bluetooth virtual key sharing vehicle function provided by the OnStar APP is worth mentioning. Imagine that in the future, fully autonomous vehicles can not only meet your daily commuting needs, but also connect to online car-hailing platforms to help you make money. At this time, sharing the Bluetooth key with your "users" can help them use the car quickly, which can greatly improve the car-using experience.

　　In addition, the OnStar APP also has remote vehicle control (including remote air conditioning, remote engine start, etc.), as well as smart home interconnection functions that connect offline application scenarios. It is not difficult to see that OnStar is realizing that future interconnection will not be limited to the car, but will break down service barriers and use the car as a medium to allow users to better connect with the outside world.

　　In fact, the same is true for future travel scenarios. The reason why car companies are working hard is not only to make technology more convenient for users, but more importantly to let users feel the warmth brought by technology. This warmth may be reflected in the current interconnection between people, cars and life, or in the future travel life scenarios.

　　Future travel landing ecological experience

　　At CES Asia, OnStar implemented its understanding of future travel life into four parts, including the interconnected ecological area, smart living area, comprehensive management area and future experience area. In the future experience area, OnStar provides users with a solution for future travel through AR technology. In terms of actual experience, users only need to wear AR glasses in the car to see AR real-time traffic navigation information. It is worth mentioning that it also has the functions of speed recommendation consultation and WeChat content broadcast.

　　In addition, OnStar has created a new experience for users in terms of smart car-home interconnection through the smart living area and the interconnected ecological area. It is understood that users only need to send instructions to the in-car voice assistant to realize the interconnection control of smart home devices.

　　Through cooperation with Baidu Apollo, users can use OnStar to control smart home appliances such as air conditioners, TVs, and sweeping robots. The following video demonstrates how to control curtains at home through voice:

　　In the comprehensive management area, OnStar demonstrated its enterprise vehicle service platform specifically provided for automakers. Cheyunjun learned from the scene that automakers can use this platform to monitor the location and driving trajectory of vehicles in real time, and can also set up electronic fence functions for vehicles. On the other hand, OnStar can also provide automakers with relevant evaluation reports on the maintenance and cost of their vehicles.

　　OnStar presents a brand new OnStar to us through the combination of future AR technology and navigation applications, the innovative experience of future smart home people-life interconnection and the construction of user community service scenarios. Of course, this is inseparable from the continuous improvement of its underlying technology and the upgrade of big data and cloud computing processing capabilities over the years.

　　To be more specific, OnStar's transformation is reflected in two aspects. On the one hand, it is a vertical transformation itself, that is, the transformation from a person-to-person, point-to-point service model to an intelligent ecosystem, point-to-surface. In terms of functions, it is reflected in the transformation from the initial real-time online service in the car to the black technology function.

　　On the other hand, it is to broaden the experience horizontally, that is, the transformation of OnStar software and hardware upgrades. In terms of software, the OnStar APP 9.0 version has added an information flow push service. This function provides users with customized exclusive content based on the massive data and powerful computing power of OnStar's background, such as abnormal vehicle condition reminders and vehicle maintenance reminders, so that users can handle them in time. The data drainage involved in this part is expected to generate value after connecting to more applications in the future, increase the benefits of OnStar, and provide OnStar car owners with smarter and more convenient car services.

　　In terms of hardware, OnStar has extended its Internet black technology to various electronic products. As long as the mobile phone, tablet computer, smart watch and smart bracelet with OnStar APP installed can realize vehicle control. It is worth mentioning that when the user wears an Internet watch while driving, OnStar APP can also monitor the driver's physical condition in real time through the heart rate monitoring function of the smart watch.

　　Find the right position to achieve full-time cloud interconnection

　　As the globalization of electric vehicles accelerates, the concept of the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) proposed by OnStar will play an increasingly important role in the vehicle, which also means that OnStar will play an increasingly important role in SAIC-GM. It is foreseeable that the constantly upgraded and improved OnStar will empower SAIC-GM's three brands through technology and enhance their product competitiveness.

　　It is worth mentioning that OnStar is planning to open up and not just be the exclusive supplier of SAIC-GM. It is understood that in the near future, it will launch aftermarket solutions with smart cloud mirrors, smart cloud driving recorders, and smart ecological boxes as carriers to provide services for other brands of vehicles. In Cheyunjun's view, this move can be understood as the first step for OnStar to lay out an ecological closed loop in the field of Internet of Vehicles.

　　More importantly, by accelerating the realization of cloud connectivity for GM's entire vehicle series, OnStar will be able to face the full explosion of future technologies with a more relaxed attitude. When the era of fully autonomous driving arrives, more and more cutting-edge technologies in other fields will be "installed on vehicles". By then, OnStar, through its long-term accumulation and comprehensive connectivity, will be able to ensure rapid integration and implementation of new technologies, and take the lead in popularizing new services for users.

　　Facing the superposition of new technologies, Cheyunjun also learned from Ms. Hua Jin, Executive Vice President of Shanghai OnStar, that OnStar still wants to provide overall car networking solutions in the future. She emphasized, "With the development of technology, consumers have higher and higher requirements for cars, and so do car companies. We need to strike a balance, trying to innovate but not messing around."

　　In this global Internet of Vehicles arms race, OnStar has become more and more clear about its position through self-transformation and continuous development, and has gradually changed to the pain points of users' service experience. We believe that in the near future, OnStar will continue to lead the development of intelligent networking in the Internet of Vehicles 3.0 era.