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Apr. 25, 2007 at 7:41am Eastern by Greg Sterling
MapQuest Partners With GM's OnStar For 'Send to Car' Directions
General Motors' OnStar Division and MapQuest have announced a partnership (see the video and related info on how it works) that allows OnStar subscribers to plan their trips via MapQuest and then send those directions to their cars. The service is called "Web Destination Entry" and will reportedly be made available to roughly 2 million OnStar equipped vehicles in 2007 and 3 million more by 2008.
Users plan trips via MapQuest and then, effectively, "send to car" (as they would their mobile phones). Directions are downloaded and played back via voice, turn-by-turn. Up to five destinations can be saved in the car. OnStar is a subscription based service and you have to be an OnStar subscriber to use Web Destination Entry.
Google Maps recently announced announced a conceptually similar program with BMW in Germany, and in-car navigation provider Dash has a deal with Yahoo to incorporate local listings data and reviews into a dashboard device. To my knowledge the Dash program doesn't include a web component.
It's very likely that we'll see more and more interchange among devices like this: Internet and mobile being the most common arena but also with Internet and car navigation (and local search/points of interest) at the higher end of the market.
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By Greg Sterling
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