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Automakers Will Soon Serve In-Car Advertisements

We knew the day was coming, but it’s likely approaching quicker than we’d like. Santa Clara, California-based firm Telenav announced a new in-car advertisement platform last Friday and it will enable the dreaded: ads in your car.

Telenav wants to sell the platform to major automakers and the in-car ads could offset costs for connected services such as wireless data, content, software and cloud services, the company said.

“In return for accepting ads in vehicles, drivers benefit from access to connected services without subscription fees, as well as new driving experiences that come from the highly-targeted and relevant offers delivered based on information coming from the vehicle,” a company spokesperson told Silicon Beat. General Motors, among other automakers, already use Telenav technology.

Data collection from drivers could include location and what they browse in the marketplace, which will allegedly serve up highly targeted and relevant ads. The advertisements may deal with frequently traveled routes, various destinations or the time of day.

In a future full of self-driving cars, ads will likely have more freedom. But, we’re years away from self-driving cars as the norm. Instead, the first ads that come across drivers’ cars will only show up when the car is stopped at a red light, for instance, or when the car is not moving.  Thankfully, the ads will not feature audio… yet.

Former GM Authority staff writer.

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Comments

  1. This is outstanding and I can’t wait! What I am really waiting for is to hear the non stop complaining about the ad content!

    Reply
    1. Not complaining about ad content, just that they would be offering ads period, there is a point where technology can become useless.

      Reply
  2. Put your vehicle in reverse, look at your screen expecting to see the backup camera feed but instead you have to watch a 15 second video ad about Justin Bieber’s newest single…What a time to be alive!

    Reply
  3. I’m not interested in having a connected car, and even less interested in having ads in my car.

    Reply
  4. I know ads are a big thing right now but seriously this is horrible. I go to my car to get away from stuff like ads. Also if I’m paying a bunch of money for a vehicle, I expect it to be luxurious. Especially if car companies preach about how luxurious their vehicles are. Ads are not luxurious and in my eyes ruin the quality of brands.

    Reply
    1. I’m so surprised with all these “intelligent” people in this room that nobody really understands what the hell this means? If you’ve actually been following this “intelligently” – then you’d understand why this might just be a good idea. Firstly… I think it’s better for a company who touts themselves to be UX-centric to lead this… would you rather have some company who can’t give a shit about UX do this? Also… the ad’s are only shown when you’re STOPPED… never when you’re driving. Ever. Also… you’ll get very very few – and only when you’re in a situation where you’re stopped… parked.. about to drive – stop your car at a destination… they will automatically switch off (instantly) when the car is in motion… if the reverse camera is on (and I know that person was kidding about this) – no ad will block it…obviously. This will allow people who buy very CHEAP cars to get very good navigation and connected services. A SAFER experience. And for those of you who say you don’t want a connected car… then you might as well throw away your phone. You all sound so silly and … just not very intellectual… when these comments are made. Also… this will not appear in a luxury car – ever – as those people can afford a good infotainment and nav experience. This will allow first-time car buyers to have a great experience in their car – in exchange for them seeing a few ads here and there – when their car isn’t moving. Do you know how many ads you see a day? On your phone? Billboards…? Etc… The guy that invented flappy birds put ads on his app and made a ton of money… did you even notice them? This company isn’t just throwing together this idea… they are seriously looking at it as a possible “win/win” for the first-time car buyer and the automaker. They are throwing millions into testing, focus groups, etc, etc, etc… So before the jokes start rolling in… consider making some intelligent comments about something that will happen… it will happen in the near future and absolutely will happen inside of autonomous cars. Come on people… you’re smarter than that. Lastly… when I first heard about this idea… I was disgusted! Shocked! I was like, “Are you kidding me?!” – but when I started to dig deeper… I realized that it’s there’s nothing that will stop it… (just look at our history of smart phones vs desktop ads). If it’s a win/win… it’s a win/win.

      Reply
  5. Even just having those ‘preferred brand’ icons on the screen seems like an intrusion – Starbucks, Shell, Dunkin Donuts – they should pay us for having to look @ their logos.

    Data collection, pre-roll ads for Rocket Mortgage … thanks, Telenav, but it’s annoying, and one more distracted driver distraction.

    Why not have voice command (Siri, etc) instead? And this ‘data collection’ thing – let’s learn a little bit more about that …

    Can it be switched-off? Or is it like stop/start, only worse?

    Reply
  6. Oh Great. Another distraction.

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  7. This is a fine example of “more is less”.

    Pay more money for less (read; no) advertising. You get more of what you want (no advertising) and less of what you don’t want (advertising).

    Reply
  8. do ads even work? when was the last time you bought something from one of those pop up ads?

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    1. Two points…

      1) GM already has rolled out their “market place” offerings to their apps…I have a Chevy and the MyChevy app, right now it offers “Free tasting plate with the purchase of 2 Entrees” at Red Lobster, so at least they do seem to offer deals vs just an ads for certain things…

      2) Already endless threads on reddit; any mic/camera connected to the internet is always listening/watching you…I’m sure they’ll be a point where your car is always listening to you and will use algorithms to “steer” you towards their offerings…

      Reply
    2. Remember the backlash a few years ago when a democratic female senator questioned what the National Guard was paying to sponsor a car in NASCAR and to generate recruits?

      Turns out the wicked woman democrat had a point. In one year the National Guard spent $26 million in NASCAR. Their return? ZERO recruits.

      Reply
      1. That’s cuz he spent most of the race either laps down, in the fence or in the garage.

        Reply
  9. Ads?…Not a chance in hell would I buy a vehicle that had this. Cuz, it’s already bad enough now that I have to pay for XM so I don’t get ads.

    Reply
  10. Perhaps this will be what revives yhe aftermarket stereo business.

    Reply
  11. At my age, no amount of advertising will get me to buy something. I know what I like and stick to it. After years of being disappointed about something new that I wasted money on, I am not interested. Maybe if the car companies offer enough features like this, I will finally stop buying new vehicles.

    Reply
  12. Come to me and listen my word properly because now i want to share view clipboard a new things for the all user.

    Reply

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