GM's new connected car boss follows her kids' tech lead

LAS VEGAS – Alicia Boler-Davis, General Motor's connected-car customer experience chief, wants to make driving more interesting for families like her own.

"I had to switch cars the other day, from my (Cadillac) Escalade which has a mobile (4G LTE) wi-fi hot spot to a (Chevy) Tahoe that didn't, and my kids, who are 9 and 12 were like, 'What's the point, Mom,'" Boler-Davis says with a laugh. "So tech has becomes important to the experience we have in the car as a family."

The 2015 International Consumer Electronics Show, which runs Tuesday through Jan. 9, has fast become a car-centric showcase for new ways that consumers will interact with their vehicles. Some 10 automakers have gadgets and services on display, taking up nearly 20% more floor space than last year.

Boler-Davis' GM division just announced a variety of new initiatives, including AtYourService, which is an expanded shopping-focused iteration of the company's long-standing OnStar subscription program. AtYourService will allow drivers to take advantage of coupons and other discounts fed to the car via its on-board wi-fi, as well as have live operators book discount same-day hotels using Priceline.com.

"Technology is one key way to differentiate ourselves, and based on the numbers we see we know customers want to be connected," says Boler-Davis, who has spent a few decades with the Detroit-based automaker, though she's still only a few weeks into her latest role at General Motors. "We had 7 million RemoteLink app requests in December alone, for things ranging from unlocking the car to starting it with your smartphone."

GM's other recently announced connected-car programs, which will roll out later in the year, include the remote monitoring of the car's vital systems to help prevent surprise breakdowns as well as a voluntary 90-day monitoring of driving habits for the purpose of providing feedback to improve driver performance.

Boler-Davis also noted that China is an increasingly important market for its connected-car offerings. She says so far it has 800,000 subscribers to OnStar in China, who use the concierge service "two and half times more frequently than our U.S. customers, mainly staying on the line with operators who help them find places and navigate there."

She adds that the company will offer its 4G LTE in-car hotspot for Chinese consumers later this year, and introduce 4G as well as OnStar to the European market soon, too.

But ultimately, regardless of where the drivers are, "the car clearly is a big part of their lives, and they want the same connectivity inside that they have outside the vehicle," says Boler-Davis. "It's becoming an expectation with consumers, so we're just look for more ways to provide value."

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