If you drive a General Motors or Ford vehicle and subscribe to proper services, you’ll be able to avoid printing maps and schlepping them to the car before the end of the month.
That’s because both auto companies today announced new partnerships with Google that enable users to beam turn-by-turn directions from Google Maps directly to their OnStar or SYNC navigation systems that are built into their cars’ dashboards.
If you drive a Ford, Lincoln, or Mercury, you’ll click a “Send to SYNC” link on Google Maps results. Once you’re in your car, and if you subscribe to SYNC’s Traffic, Directions and Information service, your voice command can download your Google Maps directions and off you go.
Similarly, drivers of GM vehicles can click on an eNav button on Google Maps results that will allow users to send turn-by-turn directions to the OnStar units in their cars.
The announcements follow last month’s demonstration of mobile mapping features between OnStar and the Google Android operating system for the Chevy Volt.
Author: Howard Lovy
Howard Lovy is a veteran journalist who has focused primarily on technology, science and innovation during the past decade.
In 2001, he helped launch Small Times Magazine, a nanotech publication based in Ann Arbor, MI, where he built the freelance team and worked closely with writers to set the tone and style for an emerging sector that had never before been covered from a business perspective. Lovy's work at Small Times, and on one of the first nanotechnology-themed blogs, helped him earn a reputation for making complex subjects understandable, interesting, and even entertaining for a broad audience. It also earned him the 2004 Prize in Communication from the Foresight Institute, a nanotech think tank.
In his freelance work, Lovy covers nanotechnology in addition to technological innovation in Michigan with an emphasis on efforts to survive and retool in the state's post-automotive age. Lovy's work has appeared in many publications, including Wired News, Salon.com, the Wall Street Journal, The Detroit News, The Scientist, the Forbes/Wolfe Nanotech Report, Michigan Messenger, and the Ann Arbor Chronicle.
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