GM Is Testing A Door-Opening Watch App
Ever lock your keys in the car? General Motors Co. says it’s going to have an app for that.
Vice President of Strategy Mike Ableson, speaking during an analyst presentation at the company’s suburban-Detroit proving grounds, showed images of an Apple Inc. Watch app under testing that lets owners lock or unlock their cars, or start them remotely. …
GM’s exploration of the Apple Watch is fueled by technology that it has long held at its OnStar unit. The telematics service has been fitted on GM vehicles since the 1990s, and the auto maker has been able to help buyers get into their cars and utilize them even if they have lost the keys.
This kind of advancement is intriguing, but its main problem is the huge consumer cost barrier to using the tech in the first place. While most automakers will undoubtedly go the hands-free Apple Watch route to do basic things like unlock and open doors and windows, start the motor/engine, and adjust power seats with future cars and trucks, that’s a long-term, slow-adoption use case.
GM might have found a viable workaround to at least some of that roadblock if the last paragraph above means that existing OnStar tech could communicate with Apple Watch to do these things. But if such capability is only going to be included in select brand new vehicles, this barely constitutes an exciting development for most Apple Watch owners and potential buyers over the next several years. It’s like the concept Tesla app or VW/BMW offerings: neato, but useless for me because I dont have $50,000-plus to drop on an Apple Watch accessory. Heck, I only have 51,000 miles on my 2011 Nissan Frontier. I dont see a new car in my future any time soon.
Of course, if some accessory maker invents a small device that can be installed onto existing door locks and controlled via Apple’s wearable (like an aftermarket car alarm clicker or keyless entry system), that might work for a much bigger chunk of early (and mid-term) Apple Watch adopters.