We’ve all had the experience of having someone ask where we are, only for us to be unable to reply because we’re behind the wheel. It’s best to stay safe and keep your hands on the wheel, but that could mean leaving people guessing about your whereabouts for long periods of time. Chevy just may have a fix for that with a new feature introduced to its myChevrolet mobile app.
In a recent update to the app, Chevy has added a feature called Vehicle Locate that is designed to ease any of the worries of your friends and family when you’re on the road. Instead of pulling out your phone to tell everyone where you are, the app can send an automated text alert to the important people in your life. That message will let them know when you’ve gotten into your car and have left a specific area or have arrived at a designated destination. Owners can also use the feature to find the exact location of their car at any given time, making it easy to locate the vehicle, even in a crowded, endless parking lot.
The feature serves as a replacement for Chevy’s Family Link service, which only worked on the web. Vehicle locate will work on mobile, so you can check in with your loved ones no matter where you are. Users can create boundary areas as wide as 20 minutes in any direction. Any time the car enters or leaves that area, an alert will go out to up to 10 people. To make sure those people actually want to get those notifications, Chevy has set up the alert system to require recipients to opt-in.
“At Chevrolet, we aim to make our drivers’ lives easier through smart and purposeful technologies,” said Alejandra Gonzalez, product manager, Remote Services, Chevrolet. “Vehicle Locate provides both drivers and their loved ones with peace of mind in a variety of different drive-related scenarios.”
Chevy envisions the new Vehicle Locate feature will add peace of mind to just about any situation, from a long-distance commuter who has family waiting at home, to parents waiting up late for their teens to return home, to daters who want their friends to know where they are just in case. The feature works well with aftermarket accessories like a dash cam. Vehicle Locate will be available to owners of eligible Chevrolet vehicles from 2012 or newer as part of the company’s remote access plan.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.