RV Manufacturers Offering OnStar Services
Major recreational vehicle (RV) manufacturers are placing hardware orders and factory-installing OnStar in their products. As a result, new RV owners will have the freedom to travel America's highways with OnStar's safety, security and Personal Calling convenience services.
OnStar, the U.S. automotive telematics leader, has signed a distribution agreement with RiverPark Inc. of Elkhart, Ind., to work with RV manufacturers (OEMs) in providing its highly recognized safety and security services in motor homes. American Coach, Fleetwood, Monaco, and Newmar are the first RV OEMs to sign purchase orders with RiverPark Inc. for OnStar hardware.
"New RV owners will soon be able to experience certain OnStar services currently available in passenger car and trucks," said OnStar President Chet Huber. "RV owners travel extensively throughout the country, and OnStar's live advisors will be there to provide route support directions, travel connections, points of interest, as well as emergency assistance."
RiverPark (www.riverparkinc.com) was established in 1981 and has become a highly regarded supplier of electronics components and products to the RV industry. RiverPark Operations VP Steve Bollero states, "OnStar's Special Edition Directions and Connections service plan for recreational vehicles provides many valuable travel services such as route support and emergency services, which are perfect compliments to the motor home lifestyle."
In their distributor role, RiverPark will work directly with RV manufacturers to facilitate design and vehicle integration, maintain inventories and process production orders. RiverPark will also provide various levels of product support as they do on other products they distribute.
Mike Cloninger, Fleetwood's head of product development agrees, "OnStar will excel in the motor home market not only with navigation assistance and travel information, but especially valuable to our customers is their emergency services."
OnStar's RV Special Edition services, targeted for availability in motorhomes are provided at the touch of OnStar's three-button system:
* The red emergency button connects with a live OnStar advisor and provides the vehicle's GPS location. The advisor can request emergency/safety/rescue personnel to the vehicle location or direct the driver to a nearby hospital or other emergency service point.
* The blue OnStar button connects with a live advisor who utilizes GPS to help drivers request roadside services, find accommodations, or access information on millions of travel points of interest from OnStar's database.
* The white dot button connects with OnStar Personal Calling, (OPC), a hands-free, voice activated cellular phone that can be used to make or receive calls to and from third parties. Using OPC, the caller can also access OnStar Virtual Advisor, which forms a bridge to the Internet and provides the caller with local weather and location-based traffic reports.
OnStar, a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors Corp., is the nation's leading provider of in-vehicle safety, security and information services using the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite network and wireless technology. OnStar services for the RV industry include stolen vehicle location, emergency services dispatch, route support, convenience services and OnStar Concierge. OnStar Personal Calling allows drivers to make and receive hands-free, voice-activated phone calls through a nationwide network. General OnStar information is available at www.onstar.com.
