Nick Pudar profiles a more connected, convergent future where every device and every gadget has an IP address, and sends out not only data but also metadata about its location, information and energy consumption, onto the cloud and where bandwidth is ubiquitous. What could one possibly do to make use of all that information? He has a few ideas and seems to be pushing the envelope in making them happen.
His company OnStar is making headway in improving the GPS satellite navigation experience for users by funnelling innovative ideas into automotive connectivity design. Instead of applying automotive connectivity in the areas of just infotainment, which it is currently restricted to, OnStar is working towards using voice recognition & speech API capabilities with metadata cognition to commoditize routes, enrich destination management and intent management capabilities in automobiles.
OnStar provides integration with MapQuest, and has recently also integrated with Google Maps, enabling a user to send his route information from a website to his car or truck long before the journey. Also, a driver can request for route information, while on the move, using voice commands, or simply press a button on his dashboard, to have an OnStar customer care representative "push" the route information into his car. The apparatus would then judge his current position and read out the directions to the driver.
What about driver distraction? What about privacy? Would users want to give away too much of information about themselves? Would all that information, if collected, not just be too overwhelmingly much? These are a few questions yet to be answered, but Nick surely believes that it's just a matter of time before these issues are reconciled, and the path they're on is right.
Nick Pudar, Vice President of OnStar Planning and Business Development, is responsible for managing OnStar’s planning, business development, and service evolution. He has responsibility for future services development and for management of the overall service portfolio. He assumed the business development role in 2005.
Pudar started his General Motors career in 1981 in manufacturing, and held various positions in GM of Canada’s Windsor Transmission Plant. In 1986, he joined the Stamping Plant Modernization team as part of the Chevrolet-Pontiac-Canada Group and worked on metal-fab automation systems. In 1990, he joined the Industrial Engineering department in the Chevrolet-Pontiac-Canada to coordinate cross-plant throughput improvement efforts for GM’s newly modernized stamping plants. In 1993, Pudar joined the Corporate Strategy staff as a business analyst. Three years later, he was appointed Director of Corporate Strategy and Knowledge Development. In 2002, Pudar was named Director of GM Strategic Initiatives. In 2004 he became Director of Global Planning and Strategic Initiatives.
Pudar received his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from General Motors Institute (now Kettering University) in 1986, and his Masters of Science in Management degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management in 1990.
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