On Wednesday GM came out of their corner, taking a swing at the navigation portion of Ford’s Sync product with a unique option depending on smartphones. GogoLink is designed to give Chevy Sonic and Spark drivers in-car, turn-by-turn navigation by using a smartphone app that relays its position and info to the touchscreen in the center stack. It should range from basic points of interest coverage with offline map caching to Google-based local searches, live traffic, and 3D mapping.
The option is potentially much less expensive than factory-installed GPS, GM said. Ford gives free basic directions on cars equipped with entry-level Sync, such as the Fiesta, but limits it to voice-only guidance.
GogoLink Navigation Includes
- Emergency information such as police, fire and the nearest hospital
- Thousands of points of interest
- Local Search via Google
- Where am I? locator
- Live traffic functionality provides crash reports and lane closures, and with alternative routes
- 3-D maps
- Ability to store native maps to the customer’s smartphone, giving them access to locations and turn-by-turn directions even when phone signal quality is poor. Many GPS-enabled apps do not do this.
GogoLink will be part of a larger integration with Chevy’s MyLink, which supports music and calls over Bluetooth as well as music, photos, and videos over USB. Again with some similarity to Ford Sync, certain car-aware apps like Pandora and Stitcher will integrate directly with the car interface. GM hasn’t said which platforms it will support, although Android and iOS are the most probable examples.
The new addition will be available on both the Sonic and Spark after the latter goes on sale, in the fall. Early Spark models will need a dealer firmware update to get the new features, GM said. MyLink is also necessary, although it’s standard on the Sonic’s LTZ and RS trim levels as well as the Spark in 1LT and 2LT forms.
