General Motors, Motorq Team Up for In-Vehicle Coaching Service

General Motors’ OnStar Business Solutions has teamed up with Motorq, the connected car API company, to promote safer driving behaviors through In-Vehicle Coaching service offered to fleet customers, according to an announcement on Sept. 28.

The In-Vehicle Coaching service provides fleet managers and drivers with real-time, verbal feedback regarding specific driving behaviors to help create awareness and encourage safer driving habits. Fleet owners set the criteria for each of the identified behaviors within the Motorq platform, including: if the driver is braking or accelerating too hard; if the driver is exceeding either/both the posted or maximum allowed speed limits and if the driver/passenger hasn’t fastened the seat belt.

Motorq’s cloud-based platform analyzes streaming data directly from the vehicle in real-time. If any of the In-Vehicle Coaching thresholds/criteria are exceeded, a verbal message will play through the radio in the vehicle alerting the driver on their behavior (but when there is more than one active/current In-Vehicle Coaching event captured, only one verbal audio message will play in the vehicle).

This service requires no hardware — meaning no contracts or installation costs — and offers a future-proof solution with access to ADAS, radar, and seatbelt detection. Other features, aside from the configurability, include detailed reporting by VIN by day, week, or month, and additional a la carte solutions such as DTCs, tire pressure, trips, or locations.

“The ability to identify and alert potentially unsafe driving in real-time audio cues through Motorq and OnStar Business Solutions will result in better drivers, which lowers costs for fleets and improves the safety for everyone on the road,” said Michelle Calloway, director, OnStar Business Solutions at GM.

“Safety is always our top priority,” said Ed Peper, U.S. vice president, General Motors Fleet. “I’m impressed by Motorq’s personalized approach to improving driver behaviors. In-Vehicle Coaching compliments the features available through OnStar Business Solutions to ensure our Fleet customers stay safe and get the most value out of their GM vehicles.”

“The capability of OnStar Business Solutions to provide immediate verbal feedback based on insights from vehicle data is a critical piece of changing behavior,” said Arun Rajagopalan, co-founder and CEO of Motorq. “While you can certainly talk to a driver at a weekly check-in to review logs, there’s no substitute for the in-the-moment type of feedback. In-Vehicle Coaching will have an impact for sure.”

The service is available through OnStar Business Solutions with most Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac models 2015 or newer, equipped with the compatible OnStar module.