GM OnStar System Could Halt Stolen Cars
DETROIT (AP) — Say some clown steals your car from the parking deck at work. If it's equipped with General Motors' OnStar service, he could be in for a big surprise and you could get a little revenge — and even see your car again.
Context & Ripple Effects
The announcement lands one day after Techdirt flagged that OnStar would warn, then stop, stolen cars, and alongside USA Today's report of a device that can remotely halt auto chases. Together they mark OnStar's pivot from a driver-assistance subscription into an active anti-theft and public-safety tool.
The pickup was broad for a single-day product story — Techdirt and The Technology Chronicles both ran versions on top of AP's wire piece — reflecting how unusual it was in 2007 for an automaker to claim the ability to take control of a moving vehicle remotely.
First-order effects
- Owners of OnStar-equipped GM vehicles gain a remote recovery path: a stolen car can be warned, slowed, and stopped rather than simply reported.
- Police pursuing a stolen GM vehicle get a new lever to end high-speed chases without a physical interception, which GM frames as a way to cut chase-related deaths.
Second-order effects
- Rival automakers' telematics offerings are pushed to match remote-intervention capability or cede a security selling point to GM's subscription service.
- With GM planning the pursuit-halting system in 1.7 million of its 2009-model vehicles, insurers and fleet buyers gain a measurable theft-recovery feature to weigh against OnStar subscription costs.
Third-order effects
- If remote halt becomes standard across fleets, vehicle control shifts partly from the person holding the keys to the network operator and, at police request, third parties — raising questions about who authorizes intervention in a moving car.
- Telematics evolves from a concierge add-on into core vehicle security infrastructure, making the always-connected car the baseline that theft deterrence and emergency response are built on.
The trend: Connected-car services are expanding from roadside assistance and convenience into active remote control of vehicles, with automakers' telematics networks becoming instruments of theft recovery and public-safety policy.