Our drive to advance accessibility with OnStar Guardian

As a proud father of three amazing children, I constantly strive to provide my kids with the best life possible and aim to keep them as safe as I can. My oldest son Hunter, who’s 8 years old, has Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD. This is a condition that affects his ability to communicate and process information. Having a child who lives with ASD drives my focus on safety to another level.

OnStar Guardian is GM’s vision to offer key OnStar safety and security services beyond the vehicle. Currently, customers within the U.S. and Canada, and even non-GM vehicle owners with a compatible smartphone, can use the OnStar Guardian mobile application to help protect themselves and family members with features like Automatic Crash Response and 24/7 access to OnStar Emergency-Certified Advisors². The latter can triage emergency situations and provide help until first responders arrive. The OnStar Guardian platform is a great example of how GM aims to keep more people safe no matter where they’re located and demonstrates our commitment to innovating software-enabled services.

Parenting a child with ASD forces you to look at safety from a unique perspective, and there is one recurring worry on my mind: How can Hunter access help if something were to happen to an adult that may be watching him? Currently, he would not be able to utilize a phone to call 911. However, he does know Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant, and can talk to her to play his favorite songs.

In late 2021, GM’s Global Innovation team tested a pilot within the U.S. that extended OnStar Guardian’s reach into homes via an Amazon Alexa skill. Now fully launched, the skill enables customers to communicate with OnStar Emergency-Certified Advisors 24/7 by simply saying, “Alexa, call for help,” to any compatible Alexa-enabled smart speakers. This new capability provides a wide range of users, like Hunter, the ability to get help when needed using nontraditional means. This amazing capability also provides individuals with other disabilities, such as limited movement, access by simply using their voice.

During pilot testing, I enlisted Hunter’s help to see how he could interact with the device and use it to reach an OnStar Emergency-Certified Advisor. He quickly understood what to do and started to chat with our great OnStar Advisors in no time. In fact, I think more than a few advisors received important insights on my son’s favorite books and songs!

Beyond supporting product voice activation, we're always looking at new ways we can enable OnStar Guardian to help all customers — no matter their capabilities or needs. For instance, we are currently exploring ways for hearing-impaired individuals to communicate with our Advisors more effectively and identify other customer health and wellness factors that need to be considered in an emergency

I recently spoke with Carrie Morton, GM chief accessibility engineer, about how we’re working to improve accessibility features across our products and services. “GM aspires to be the most inclusive company in the world, and one way we’re doing that is by extending the OnStar Guardian app to those with disabilities,” she says.