No GM Vehicle? No Problem! Onstar Launches Mixed-Fleet Telematics Solution

OnStar Vehicle Insights can now be used with most non-GM vehicles via a plug-in adapter, the OEM announced on July 26. This means that customers can utilize the telematics solution across their whole fleet, regardless of vehicle make or model year. 

The OnStar Vehicle Insights Fleet Adapter will plug into the OBD-II port of non-GM vehicles, as well as GM vehicles built without OnStar hardware and MY 2014 or older GM vehicles. Once the adapter is connected to the vehicle and the OnStar Vehicle Insights mobile app or website, fleet managers can begin receiving insights right away.

“Our goal is to help make fleet management as easy and efficient as possible for our current and future customers,” said Ed Peper, U.S. vice president, GM Fleet. "We know many customers have mixed fleets, and we believe there is significant benefit in streamlining the process and monitoring a whole fleet using our singular platform.”

With OnStar Vehicle Insights, fleet managers and drivers have access to a suite of features designed to improve overall efficiencies, productivity and safety. Some of the features include:

• Vehicle Locator: Provides the location of fleet vehicles in real time, including geofence boundary alerts.
• Vehicle Health: Provides vehicle mileage, oil life and fuel efficiency, as well as preventative service prompts and maintenance notifications.
• Driver Behavior: Displays driver behaviors and trips, and sends alerts around specific events, like exceeding a specified speed limit.
• Performance Insights: A simplified performance dashboard aggregates data and presents trends that are helpful for business operation.
• Remote Commands: Allow drivers to lock, unlock and remote start a vehicle from the OnStar Vehicle Insights website or mobile app when keys are not readily available.
• Daily Trip Summaries: Allow drivers to maintain and reference trip history in an organized manner.

Also available starting today through the OnStar Vehicle Insights platform is In-Vehicle Coaching, a new virtual feature. When activated, In-Vehicle Coaching provides real-time verbal cues to drivers, including seat belt, acceleration, speeding, and braking alerts. Set by the fleet manager, the alerts are designed to encourage safer driving habits. GM says that a recent pilot showed the feature helped drivers decrease hard braking by 26%, hard acceleration by 76%, and speeding over 80 miles per hour by 93%.

For fleets that already have electric vehicles, GM recently announced the platform's integration into the Ultium Charge 360 fleet charging service.

The OnStar Vehicle Insights solutions, as well as its Fleet Adapter plug-in and In-Vehicle Coaching, is available to customers in the U.S. and Canada. 

Since the solution's launch, GM says fleet managers have received nearly 3.5 million notifications and details of almost 16 million trips covering more than 246 million miles.