GM Moves on with In-car Facebook App

DETROIT — General Motors Co. still plans to roll out its new OnStar feature that allows drivers to listen to Facebook messages and update their status, despite pointed criticism from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

OnStar President Chris Preuss said the company is confident in the safety of the feature after conducting driving tests and has no plans to drop it, The Detroit News reported. The application can also be extended to other social networking sites like Twitter.

"Not only is it safe — all things relative in the vehicle — it's actually a benign activity," Preuss said.

Preuss' comments were GM's first public response to LaHood's concerns. LaHood has criticized automakers in recent weeks for not doing more to combat distracted driving. Last week, LaHood specifically knocked the idea of letting drivers have audio access to social media sites like Facebook, telling Bloomberg News that it's "the biggest distraction of all."

"We must all go further," LaHood told reporters last month. "We've seen news stories about carmakers adding technologies in vehicles that let drivers update Facebook, surf the Web, or do any number of other things instead of driving safely."

GM hasn't yet offered the new feature to all of OnStar's 5.5 million subscribers. The hands-free feature is being tested mainly by GM employees and some customers who have 2008 or newer GM models.

Ford Motor Co. has no plans to allow users of its popular Sync system to listen to Facebook updates or allow them to update their status, company spokesman Alan Hall said.

Ford does plan to allow users tohave Twitter messages read to them via Sync by year's end, starting with the Ford Fiesta. But users won't be allowed to post Twitter messages verbally.Syncalready allows users to have their text messages read aloud, make voice-activated calls and respond to text messages by choosing from pre-assigned responses, such as "yes," "no" or "I love you."

"We know people want to stay connected in their vehicles, so Ford is continuing to deliver that connectivity for them responsibly and safely," said Susan Cischke, Ford's group vice president of sustainability, environment and safety engineering.

"Our Sync research backs up what most of us instinctively know — that it is better while driving to place a call using a voice interface than dialing manually, because you can keep your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road," she added.

GM, in its safety testing, has found that the number of airbag deployments was lower during the activation of hands-free calls than during other types of driving, Preuss said.

"We don't know why that is, and we need to study it," he said. "Are we trying to solve problems and, if so, can technology play that role? Shouldn't data guide us on where that's going?"

Preuss said the feature has been demonstrated to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Transportation Department spokeswoman Olivia Alair declined to comment.

LaHood has said he wants to crack down on some of these features in new vehicles.

"Features that pull drivers' hands, eyes and attention away from the road are distractions, period," LaHood said. "So I'm going to meet with and work with the auto companies to develop new safety guidelines for technology in vehicles. Together, let's put safety before entertainment."

LaHood plans to meet with automakers to press the issue of in-vehicle distractions.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents Detroit's Big Three automakers, Toyota Motor Corp. and seven others, said automakers are already acting responsibly.

Automakers support "in-vehicle technology functions in a way that allows drivers to still focus on the road," said Wade Newton, an alliance spokesman.

Policymakers, he said, must balance "two things: the fact that we know drivers will do certain things while driving and how technology can make it safer. And it will involve education, appropriate laws and highly visible enforcement so the driving public understands how important it is to focus on the road."

When asked this week whether he is considering endorsing a ban on all in-car cell phone use, LaHood didn't directly answer. He said his focus is to prod the 20 remaining states that haven't banned texting behind the wheel to do so, and to convince Congress to pass a comprehensive distracted driving law.