General Motors is using the familiar OnStar name for a new AI assistant, with OnStar AI to launch in the US in the 2027 before rolling out to other, as-yet unspecified GM models.
Announced at GM Forward, OnStar AI is GM's own assistant, trained specifically on GM vehicles. It sits alongside Google Gemini, which GM began rolling out to vehicles last year – including over-the-air updates to models dating back to 2022.
"OnStar AI is different than Gemini," said GM chief product officer Sterling Anderson. "OnStar AI is trained for our vehicles, so the AI in your car will understand your car deeply. Not just understand it – it'll be able to control it."
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Mr Anderson said GM didn't need to build its own large language model from scratch, instead tapping into existing models and layering GM's vehicle-specific functionality on top.
In demonstrations at the event, GM's director of product management for voice and vehicle AI, Anna Santos, asked OnStar AI to play a song using only a half-remembered lyric, turn on a cabin light without knowing what it was called, and explain a "double beep" she'd heard earlier in the drive. The assistant correctly identified it as a speed limit warning.
Ms Santos also asked it to stop her dogs opening the doors, which engaged the child locks, and then followed up with "the windows as well" without needing to repeat the wake word.
It can also hand a conversation over to a live OnStar advisor without losing context, and owners will be able to upload a photo – of a boat, for example – and ask if their specific vehicle can tow it.
GM is also consolidating its separate Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, and Cadillac apps into a single OnStar app from the next northern summer (June to August 2027).
The company's vice president of digital products and infrastructure Ed Nightingale – a former Microsoft and Apple executive – said the app will pull together vehicle controls, family members' vehicles, and proactive alerts, such as warning you when other GM vehicles detect slippery roads ahead.
The company repeatedly stressed that features are opt-in and governed by "plain language controls" – unsurprising given the scrutiny the automaker has faced over data-sharing in the US.
GM didn't say whether OnStar AI would require a paid subscription.
The company also detailed OnStar Fleet Intelligence for small and medium businesses. Its fleet AI assistant, launched earlier this year, will be trained to diagnose vehicle problems like a technician, and to advise when a vehicle is costing more to run than it's worth.
OnStar isn't offered in Australia. Cadillac did launch its own Connected Services suite here in late 2025, though, with Google Built-in, remote functions through the Cadillac app, and eight years of free connectivity.
GM introduced OnStar in the US back in 1996, touting it as the industry’s first embedded telematics system.
While OnStar's capabilities have grown significantly over the decades, including mobile app connectivity, GM still employs live operators to assist vehicle owners with certain queries. OnStar AI doesn't replace these operators.