GM recruits MapQuest to cut out the middleman

Wireless router

General Motors and MapQuest have teamed up on a new service enabling drivers of GM's OnStar-enabled cars to use the Web to select and store destinations for their turn-by-turn guidance when out on the road. The new service, called OnStar Web Destination Entry, will allow drivers to find up to five destinations on MapQuest's Web site, then send them to the OnStar system directly from their computers.

The theory goes that these destinations can then be accessed while out on the road by connecting to the OnStar service center and selecting a stored destination via OnStar's automated voice-prompt system; OnStar will then guide you to said destination using a series of automated turn-by-turn directions.

Those who want to add a new destination while on the move will still be able to access the traditional OnStar trip advisers if they want to. The new service works only in models equipped with seventh-generation OnStar systems (2007 model year cars) or newer. A sample of 3,000 OnStar subscribers will take place in a pilot of the Web Destination Entry program this summer, and GM says that it expects 600,000 2007-model year cars--including all Cadillacs and Buicks--to come factory-installed with the service starting from "late 2007."