Telematics--It’s What’s For Breakfast: Hyundai, Toyota latest to connect their drivers

Two more carmakers have connected their customers to the cloud. Hyundai introduced its Blue Link platform at the Consumer Telematics Show, held the day before the Consumer Electronics Show opens in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Toyota revealed details of its coming Entune system at CES. And OnStar, which in many ways originated the idea of the connected car for the masses, announced it is expanding beyond General Motors vehicles.

Hyundai’s Blue Link is an embedded platform, meaning it comes built in to the car instead of running through a mobile phone. It’s Hyundai’s first such system in the United States (a different one runs on home-market Hyundais), integrating a number of safety, information and entertainment features that will be offered in three packages.

Hyundai expects the bundle of safety features, dubbed the Blue Link Assurance Package, will be the most popular. It includes automatic crash notification (it notifies a response center, not you), a button-operated 911 SOS emergency-assistance service and enhanced roadside assistance, which summons help via another button.

The Blue Link Essentials Package, meanwhile, offers everything from remote start to various notifications about your car’s location and speed. The Guidance Package has navigation and gas station, restaurant and weather details.

Costs were not released, but it will all be free for a certain period of time to give buyers a chance to get familiar with the many wonders of the system. Look for the first Blue Links on Sonatas this spring and in Velosters this summer, followed by the rest of the Hyundai line. See www.hyundaiusa.com for more details.

Toyota says its Entune multimedia system channels cloud-based services via most smartphones and feature phones. Drivers can summon the power of Bing, iHeartRadio, MovieTickets.com, OpenTable (for restaurant reservations) and Pandora. Toyota calls its “conversational” voice recognition best in class, though we’ve heard that before (cough . . . SYNC . . . cough) and will await a trial when it comes out some time this year. No announcement was made as to which Toyotas will get it first. See www.toyota.com/entune/ for more.

OnStar announced it will sell a $299 standalone rearview mirror this spring that will offer automatic crash response, turn-by-turn navigation, stolen-vehicle location assistance, one-button access to emergency roadside services and hands-free calling. The units will be sold through Best Buy and other retailers. Installation is expected to cost between $75 and $100. OnStar connects you to a real, live person who speaks to you as you drive, which is nice but also expensive. Service plans will range from $18.95 a month to $199 a year. The mirror does it all; you don’t need a mobile phone to connect. Visit www.onstar.com to learn more. (See related story for more information).

More telematics stuff, including an announcement from Mini about its first partnership to develop third-party apps for the Mini Connected system, will be forthcoming as the two shows get under way. Expect to see most, if not all carmakers come out with such systems sooner rather than later.

“We see them being very relevant to vehicle purchase consideration,” said Barry Ratzlaff, Hyundai’s director of customer satisfaction and service business development. “These features are going to become more important. People are so used to having this information available at their fingertips.”

By Mark Vaughn