State Farm Wants to Plug In Too

Much of the appeal of driving these days lies in the potential for mobile connectivity, rather than with handling or performance or heated seats or any other particular attribute of the vehicle, especially for the Millennial generation that has grown up with cocked thumbs. 

It was just a matter of time before major non-automaker brands began jockeying for a piece of the action. State Farm Insurance has just introduced its own aftermarket “telematics” system called In-Drive, by which the auto-insurance giant hopes to compete with the likes of Ford’s Sync, General Motors’ OnStar and other infotainment systems that are hard-wired into vehicles when you buy them.

In a move similar to that just launched by GM as it provides an aftermarket installation kit for OnStar, In-Drive will offer services from the standard telematics menu including one-touch emergency response, roadside assistance, stolen-vehicle location assistance, vehicle-diagnostic alerts and others. For consumers, there's another big incentive: discounts.Continue reading...