General Motors will launch GM Marketplace, a system to order food, beverage and perform other tasks from the car, for every 2017 model year vehicle in the very near future. Shortly after its reveal, safety advocates immediately lashed out and called the system a dangerous addition to the car for already-distracted drivers. Now, GM is pushing back.
WardsAuto reported on Tuesday that Phil Brook, vice president of U.S. sales and marketing at Buick and GMC, said the system is not designed to put drivers in harm’s way.
“We wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize anyone’s safety,” he said.
Some four million vehicles will have access to GM Marketplace from the 2017 model year with a Wi-Fi hotspot and compatible infotainment unit. The push for in-car shopping is a chance for GM to earn a slice of the $57 billion industry that is the on-demand economy.
The National Safety Council previously expressed its concerns over the system and claimed it will absolutely cause more distracted-driving wrecks and deaths.
“With motor vehicle deaths rising, the last thing we want to do is offer drivers another way to be distracted,” said Debbie Hersman, president of the council in the latest report.
However, Brook believes some may misunderstand how the system operates and underscored its simplicity. In the system’s announcement, GM said Marketplace is designed for use while driving and it minimizes manual operation to keep eyes on the road and hands on the steering wheel.
Comments
This should be zero concern!
Why isn’t GM Marketplace audio-driven? The technology exists, correct?
Alexa, Siri, Cortana, Google – etc…
It’d be nice to take the lead on this.
GM claims in another GMA article that it will eventually support voice…
I do not think it will be much of an issue as I see it being not used much.
And those who like services like this will use their phone anyways.
I have some shopping items on my truck now. To be honest I do not really think about buying as I drive.
This is more a set up for if autonomous ever gets going. You have to give people something to do.
It’s just another revenue stream for them and very little to do with “autonomous” driving where far more people would elect to sit in the back seat…
GM marketing at its finest…How SHOULD they have marketed this? Never mention it was designed for those driving in mind…We all know the “fix” will be they’ll add a prompt that will say “please press here to confirm you’re the passenger” and that’s what they should have rolled with…
“The GM Marketplace was designed primarily to bring exclusives deals and conveniences to everyone in a GM vehicle…We believe the primary user will be the passengers since a driver by themselves would most likely not book a table by themselves at one of our many GM Marketplace restaurants…However, the driver is welcome to use the GM Marketplace when they are safely stopped. We do not condone the drivers use of the marketplace while driving however if they elect to bypass our safeguards we have studies that show it’s safer than using their cell phone which may have a sleuth of other notifications the driver may be compelled to look at before returned their focus to the road”…That’s how you market this GM…
No need to thank me GM and I will turn down any marketing job offer as I have zero interest in moving to Michigan… 😉
For the good drivers out there I don’t see this as being a problem , when it is voice activated that is even better . My concern is the rest of the foolish distracted drivers out on the road .
Especially on the heavily used roads used by people getting out of work where it pays to pay attention and drive more defensively .
it’s similar using some infotainment systems where you have to go through different screens or options just to change a specific setting .
Of course GM is pushing back against the safety groups , GM wants a piece of this new pie .
Having said that , I would bet the same happened when the first radio was installed in cars or CD and cassette players showed up. Personally there wasn’t a company listed that I would order from anyway .