This article in NFC World identifies how OnStar will try to defend itself against the inroads being made by Apple and Google’s intelligent agents, if it isn’t already too late:
“Drivers will soon be able to make purchases from within vehicles using their Masterpass account through OnStar — a subscription-based, in-car communications service and General Motors (GM) subsidiary. The Masterpass-enabled service, designed in collaboration with IBM, is to be embedded in “many GM vehicles” in 2017.
“By embedding Masterpass within OnStar Go, Mastercard will enable drivers and passengers to safely make secure and seamless payments for goods and services using credit or debit cards stored within their Masterpass wallet,” Mastercard says.
“With IBM Watson, OnStar Go enables merchants and brands to create new, connected driving experiences. For example, if a driver picks up breakfast from a specific restaurant that is part of the OnStar Go merchant marketplace, the restaurant would have the ability to prompt the driver to order menu items based on past order history.”
As with Alexa, it appears OnStar intends to derive revenue from service providers that integrate to the OnStar back end. The real challenge here is that while OnStar may know a lot about the individual that owns and uses the car, Apple and Google will always know more since the mobile phone follows the driver everyplace, not just in the car, and the more data an Intelligent Agent can collect, the smarter it can become.
Overview by Tim Sloane, VP, Payments Innovation Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
Read the full story here
