Sometimes, you really do wonder if automakers are listening to their customers. Sure, focus groups for new models are run, but when it comes to general brainwaves, where do you write to? As it turns out, General Motors has something called the New Devices portal, where you can submit just about any idea to the General. You can probably already see where this is going.
As the portal announces, “The General Motors New Devices Section provides our customers and friends who are not General Motors employees with an opportunity to submit ideas, inventions and suggestions.” While you almost certainly won’t get an email back due to the sheer volume of submissions, there’s almost certainly a human looking at what people submit.
The wild part of this portal is that theoretically, there’s nothing to stop hundreds of people asking GM to bring back the Geo Storm, or build dipping sauce holders into their vehicles’ center consoles, or request an off-road ZR2 Corvette. You know, like a Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato, but for the people. So, to get your idea juices going, here are a few I’ve already cooked up.
A Virtual Toggle To Decouple Reverse Lights From Courtesy Lighting
For some reason, when you unlock a General Motors vehicle with automatic headlights at night, the reverse lights come on as part of the courtesy lighting package. In a way, I sort of understand. Some areas are both sparsely populated and dimly lit, so a little extra light around the car can make a difference out on the trail or in a dark campsite parking lot. However, most of the time this feature is simply aggravating because people around the vehicle aren’t sure if it’s in park or not. After all, reverse lights are the universal signal that a car is either about to move backwards or is currently moving backwards, and that’s a clear safety function.
How do you give outdoorsy people a little extra light while potentially minimizing confusion in more populated parking lots? It’s simple: Have a virtual toggle for “Courtesy Reverse Lights” and have it switched off by default. That way, people wanting more light can get more light but the majority of vehicles probably won’t be as confusing to passers-by as current models are.
Bringing Back Apple CarPlay
Look, in the wake of GM announcing it’s getting rid of CarPlay, this one’s a no-brainer. While GM’s latest Android Automotive OS user experience does come with built-in Google Maps, signing into apps in a car is unnecessarily clunky, and wireless network support and cost are real concerns for the future. Even though the latest generation of vehicles features integrated 5G connectivity, that technology will eventually become outdated – just look at the 3G sunset of a few years ago as an example. Plus, to access in-vehicle apps like Spotify and Waze, drivers are going to be paying for a plan once the free trial runs out. OnStar One currently runs $34.99 a month, and that feels like a rip-off to use apps you already pay for when your phone has a data plan anyway. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are really just cheap future-proofing for the next generation of used vehicle customers coming into the traditional aftersales stream. If enough people keep complaining, surely GM has to bow to pressure, right?
Augmented Reality Trackday Line And Braking Markers
It’s no secret that General Motors makes some of the best performance cars on sale today, and it’s willing to back up their prowess with warranty support for trackdays. That’s some top-tier stuff, and GM’s Performance Data Recorder for collecting trackday footage is also pretty great. However, what about some racing game-inspired support for newbies to prevent them from blowing braking zones or ending up off-course? From “Forza Horizon” to “iRacing,” pretty much every driving game lets players turn on a virtual driving line complete with braking zones. There’s no reason this can’t be done in real life through a head-up display, so why not add it to the Performance Data Recorder package?
Costco Hot Dogs On Demand Through OnStar Concierge
We’ve all heard “baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet,” right? Items ingrained in the American culture, but we haven’t tried all combinations of this mantra yet. Let’s say you’re stuck in traffic and craving something you can eat with one hand. A hamburger probably isn’t the move, and a burrito is liable to fall apart and get sour cream all over the leather. At the same time, GM and Costco have a vehicle discount partnership, so why not bring DoorDash or Uber Eats into the loop, hook it all up through OnStar concierge, and effectively dropship hot dogs to hungry owners? Payment would function like plug-and-charge EV charging, where it would just bill whatever card’s on file, and boom: Glizzys on the go. Scooter riders could even lane-filter where legal to deliver the dogs in traffic jams. Tell me this isn’t a great idea.
Alright, so maybe the hot dog thing is a little far-fetched, but the portal seems wide-open for normal people to suggest ways General Motors can make its future cars better. So, go forth and go nuts. Have fun with it. Who knows? Maybe if enough of us submit the same idea, it might actually happen.
Top graphic image: Cadillac
Make a lumber jack vehicle , its a tree trunk so long middle cut out to seat it regular wheels lije s motor inside the rims of the wheels or power wheel motor inless you put motor engine in it put lights on it soft top so if rains your ok windshield windows so say
Then you can you vehicle that are like a doom baggy buggies differnt styles for differnt brands ,
And you full size power wheel vehicle thst are street legal
You vehicle that you buy off the lot that look like hotrod or lowriders thanks i think that’s it
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This is love to see thanks to a voice b lair so say rip but a 4 wheeler that the size of a car that has 2 front seats and a back seat or a 4 wheeler that’s looks like a van has a cargo area to put suff and street legal needs license plates so if gets stolen it can’t be sold so say
Make jet skis looks like vehicle with real vehicles engine and yet make semi suze subs etc sorry I hate to tell my ideas and not get paid but yet to many thoughts I get was trying to get in my name
I have a story on wattpad MarkSimon313 called superman vehicle its a truck with a car trunk on it its saopst to have a think hood orderman of superman on it but I wouldn’t mind a % but such telling
So this is from my story on wattpad ,but a engine that’s made lije a food thermometer the one you put in food and it tells the temp
So this be a Engine that has a temperature Gauge that Controls the Pisstions and other parts of the motor ,so say ,like how your food get temp by that temperature Thang, this would have that as it moves and runs it , a temperature Gauge that tells this motor to move its stuff when weather is worm or cold you have a nob that you turn for cool hot worm for the weather. Weather but of course you have a battery for your lights etc stuff to and Is alternator alternator. And oil to oil the parts , maybe even a Computer to switch on and off but you know how you temp food this be made that way , mr simon still thinking about how it would be sorry can’t spell or talk right but in the thoughts of works
Be like a The minister themanastir how ever you say it spell it but yeah you know you put it in food and gives you the temp well this be used as the Pisstions and other parts of the motor , so when it gets the outside heat it goes up moving them or down movieing them when cold , and with a switch you can drive for summer or winter fall spring , but yeah something like that and have a Gauge on it saying the temp so you can drive
In part by Jesus, christ , amen ttys God bless prayer I make it in life ,or paid ,thanks and a % to my bother in law fir it being his birthday lj , God bless ttys ,
You should make your head and teal lights have like a door you puch in for ut to open so you can change the light bulb with out haveing to take the hole light off or where it takes a small hand , maybe build a engine where 99.9 % of the parts that need to be change is up front or build the engine sideways , if that woukd help , but make a suv or car truck thst has semi gas tanks on them big lije a semi so you can go from state to state with out filling up then have a regular gas tank so when thises semi gas tanks go out of gas you can make it to the gas station but make a corvette to look like a bug car for a bug reunion
Am thinking what if you took the Chevy corvette or begotten lam and made it a Cadillac but outing a yealinfht wing on it and your head lights maybe have sone with a jet pack to where they can fly ,, but yeah make a Cadillac a fast powerful sports car ,