GM Patents Cloud-based Driver Settings Service
General Motors may store seat position, radio presets, contacts and Internet browsing history in a cloud-based system to serve to drivers regardless of the car they’re in, a patent discovered by Autoblog shows.
The patent, which was filed July 14, said separate drivers would be required to authenticate their identities via RFID chip, text input, voice identification or fingerprint reader. The information would be downloaded to the car via telematics.
The patent filing includes several mentions of security measures the automaker would take to protect sensitive information, which would include phone contacts, voicemails, Internet browsing history and Paula Abdul song alerts.
Information would be encoded in the car and sent to the cloud, and personal information would be removed from the car when it’s no longer needed, according to the patent.
The technology could be useful for frequent rental car drivers and car-sharing services.
Like the Ram ramps, Ford lights and others, it’s unclear if the technology will ever see the light of day.
More by Aaron Cole
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What happens when you're driving in an area with no cell service? I live at the edge of coverage for my provider, and service can be hit or miss, depending actually on the weather. In the rush to connect everything to itself, because it seems cool, lack of cell service is of course just a minor inconvenience in the March to Better Days.
I typically rent a car when I'm a good distance away from home, and I've never had a rental with sat radio, so what good would my local radio preferences do me out of town? And I need to store my seat settings with GM because I always rent the identical car as I own, and adjusting my seat is so much hard work? And I benefit from GM knowing my web history.... how? Somebody help me with this one. I'm stumped.
Maybe I should start a business - turning new cars into "Ludditemobiles", by removing fuses/wires to blind them from TIoT ("The Internet of Things"). Customers would have to sign a waiver, though. I'm starting to see why even the most mundane of "classics" are commanding astronomical prices at Mecum and other auctions - NO ELECTRONICS.
If you can patent one-click ordering........ You know, lawyers really, really are important people, you know. Without them, we would never have had cars..... To the extent anyone requires potable preferences, they're better stored on one's already connected phone, which syncs with the "cloud" if desired and network is available, anyway. But of course, then Goopple will "own" the data, and GM's lawyers will be less really, really important people......