OnStar breaks free of GM chokehold, shows off future of LTE vehicle services

OnStar has been a service on GM vehicles for years now that can do all sorts of stuff. It can help the police find your vehicle if it is stolen, it can get you directions to a place you want to go, and it can do lots more. The catch has been that the OnStar service was only offered on GM vehicles. At CES 2011, OnStar has announced that it is now available to everyone via aftermarket installers.OnStar can be added to any vehicle with a new mirror that has the familiar OnStar buttons that any GM vehicle owner will recognize. The aftermarket mirror will give emergency response, navigation, Bluetooth, security and more features and will land in Best buy stores this spring for $299 with other stores to follow. Pricing on service is unknown at this time.

OnStar also showed off its vision for the future of in car entertainment at the show with a screen for rear seat passengers that offers access to Verizon 4G LTE services for entertainment and more. The service would allow the user to stream video content and access the web with other features as well.