In the United States, Toyota offers a branded version of OnStar called LexusLink on four Lexus models, according to Jon Bucci, corporate manager in the advanced technology department at Toyota Motor Sales USA. The service is available at three plan levels:

1. Safety, including airbag deployment notification (an automatic emergency call from a dedicated onboard cell phone); stolen vehicle location assistance; emergency services notification; roadside assistance; remote door lock/unlock; remote horn and lights; accident assist (from the call center), and playback of advisor instructions.
2. Directions, including turn-by-turn routing to specific destinations; information and convenience services, and ride assist.
3. Personal concierge, including personal/business travel arrangements, reservations and event tickets.

LexusLink provides personal calling, and will provide weather information, traffic reports, and a customized stock market report, but it doesn't send e-mails to let owners know how efficiently their vehicles are operating.

Bucci said further deployment of telematics in the United States depends less on technology than on the business case. “It's not easy to justify driving the (telematics) feature and service set down through the model lineup,” Bucci said, adding that Toyota conducts in-depth studies to determine how much buyers are willing to pay for telematics services. “Corolla and Scion buyers have other things north of telematics that they're (more) concerned about. Vehicle quality, reliability and dependability rank much higher.”

Safety and security features attract attention to telematics, according to ATX Group's Millstein, but the real value in the technology, at least for OEMs, is the ability to interact with customers. “We're starting to see the benefits of that now,” he said, adding, “Over time, telematics will morph from something that the subscriber pays for to something that the OEM pays for, because of the value of the data. In the future, we see connection being more important than content.”

Toyota recognizes the value of obtaining real-time information on the “health” of a vehicle, but the cost of connect time for each contact with a vehicle is a consideration, and owner privacy is also a concern, since vehicular monitoring could, at least theoretically, keep tabs on customers' driving habits. “If we did offer (vehicle diagnostics), it would have to be on an opt-in basis. It's not something we're going to bolt in,” said Bucci. “There's no value to us if we're perceived like ‘Big Brother.’”

“As a technology with life-saving potential, telematics doesn't come near that of side air bags and electronic stability control,” observed John Krafcik, vice president of product development and strategic planning at Hyundai Motor America.

This fall, however, Hyundai plans to roll out XM satellite radio, and expects to have a communications channel through which it can send messages to Hyundai owners. Krafcik said the channel will open opportunities for traffic avoidance, and will plug into forthcoming navigation systems.

Hyundai plans to offer a factory-installed navigation system in its 2007 Azera, but Krafcik also praised Garmin's nüvi personal navigation device for the quality of its user interface. Garmin added Bluetooth functionality to its nüvi devices earlier this year. Krafcik said that Hyundai plans to offer a nüvi interface at the top of its center stack storage compartments.

“There will continue to be a market for factory-installed navigation systems, but over the medium term, the evolution will increasingly be more toward personal navigation systems,” Krafcik said. “Most people will have an MP3 player, so is it necessary for us to have a CD slot? We can take the cost saving and provide an (MP3) input jack. We're thinking the same way with portable navigation systems.”

Royal Philips Electronics reportedly plans to introduce personal navigation devices this fall, and Audiovox recently introduced the NVX406, an XM satellite radio-ready portable navigation device with a 3.5-inch touch-screen and turn-by-turn voice prompts. The device offers 4 GB of flash memory with six million points of interest in maps of North America.