General Motors is launching vehicles here without features it offers overseas, chiefly satellite navigation and connected services, but it plans to address some of these gaps.
“We’re working through plans to be able to bring connectivity to our market, and we will share more on that when we can,” GM Australia and New Zealand managing director Jess Bala told CarExpert.
“We didn’t want to not launch the [GMC Yukon Denali] when we are because of [this].”
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Not only does the Yukon Denali miss out, but so do the Cadillac Lyriq and Chevrolet Silverado.
That leaves owners with only Apple CarPlay or Android Auto smartphone mirroring – admittedly popular alternatives to traditional satellite navigation, but not ideal for owners in areas with poor mobile phone reception.
“Geographically there are spots, but over the years it’s gotten a lot better, you get reception in most places,” said Ms Bala.
Not only does GM want to bring satellite navigation here, it wants to introduce a wider suite of connected services.
“If you think about essentially the OnStar package that is in the US, there will be elements of that – not everything, but elements of that, is essentially what we’re targeting, to be able to do things off your phone, have your phone interact with the car, plus the ability of the navigation, and other things that we can do,” said Ms Bala.
“It obviously opens the door to over-the-air updates down the track.”
It’s unclear whether existing owners of GM vehicles locally would be able to have this technology retrofitted.
“That’s part of the analysis that we’re doing, because each vehicle would be different,” said Ms Bala.
OnStar was launched in the US in 1996, and today encompasses a suite of technology such as stolen vehicle tracking and SOS calling – features common among connected services suites in Australia.
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Super Cruise in a Cadillac Lyriq
Another missing feature locally is GM’s Super Cruise, offered in vehicles like the Lyriq in North America.
This Level 2+ autonomous driving technology supports hands-free driving on over a million kilometres of roads in North America, combining adaptive cruise control and lane-centring functions.
“We’re always assessing that. Obviously there needs to be the government regulations that allows us to do that at the same time, but we are in discussions in what it would take in that space through our policy team as well,” said Ms Bala.
“Because until that is overcome, we can’t do what we would need to do.”
Currently, the Lyriq lacks even a traditional lane centring system in Australia, featuring only lane-keep assist.
“If we’re able to get [tech upgrades like connected services], they’re the sort of things that would all end up enabled,” said Ms Bala.
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