The AutoBot Takes on OnStar

Back in 2002, a high school freshman named Marc Ingram, spurred on by his father's never-ending complaints of getting into a cold car after a long walk to it, developed a gadget that let his father start his car's engine, lock or unlock the doors, and turn on the heat or air-conditioning from anywhere via his moblie phone. Now 8 years later, Ingram and his new company Mavizon Technologies are preparing to launch the AutoBot, a $299 version of that old prototype that essentially performs the same functions and more. It also does diagnostics, can disable the car remotely if stolen, and can detect a crash and send an emergency notice to friends and family. Sound familiar? Ingram expects to compete against OnStar as well as number of other start-ups offering similar devices.

The device has the advantage of flexibility over OnStar: it can be moved between vehicles, works on most smartphones, and can be controlled from any web browser. Additionally, it works with all vehicle models built after 1995. This provides access to a much larger marketplace than OnStar and provides the necessary value proposition for consumers to pay the initial purchase cost (knowing they can easily transfer the device if they change vehicles). The company does plan to charge a monthly service fee initially in addition to the purchas price, although they do hope to eventually offer a no fee subscription supported by advertsing. The initial cost and service fee will certainly be a hurdle for some consumers, so the services and fucntionality provided with the Autobot service will have to be compelling. An additional negative is that the company does not currently offer a robust support service like OnStar.

This reminds some of standalone navigation devices, which have done very well. I expect there to be a strong demand for products like the Autobot, with those that can offer superior functionality, ease-of-use, and services to win out. Further, those companies that can continue to innovate and add more services (i.e. streaming music) to meet evolving customer expectations will be able to sustain success.