A customer contacts OnStar every two seconds—about 5 million calls a month from the subscriber base of more than 7 million. On top of this come 8.8 million interactions a month from the RemoteLink mobile app.

The 1 billion interactions include:

• 5.5 million Emergency Services delivered
• 156 million RemoteLink Mobile App requests
• More than 270 million Turn-by-Turn Navigation requests
• Delivered Roadside Assistance more than 3.9 million times
• More than 800,000 Good Samaritan calls
• More than 390 million Vehicle Diagnostic reports delivered
• More than 350 stolen vehicles slowed down.

In honor of the milestone, OnStar has provided loyal subscribers in the US, Canada, Mexico and China with a year of premium OnStar service. Top performing OnStar advisors in each market were honored as well.

Before becoming known as OnStar, the original name for the service was Project Beacon. Its goal was integrating wireless communication into vehicles, years before mass adoption of smartphones.

In the fall of 1996, OnStar debuted in the Cadillac DeVille, Seville and Eldorado. The service initially offered Airbag Deployment Notifications, the core of OnStar’s safety and security premise, which progressed into Automatic Crash Response that uses sensors capable of determining the severity of a crash impact and alerting an OnStar emergency advisor to assist. OnStar today responds to more than 100,000 emergency calls every month.

OnStar services include OnStar 4G LTE, a built-in Wi-Fi hotspot inside properly equipped 2015 and newer model year vehicles. More than 1 million Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC vehicles on the road in the US and Canada have OnStar 4G LTE. The service will be available in China and Europe later this year.

New OnStar services include Smart Driver Assessment, through which consenting drivers can get feedback on their driving habits for potential insurance discounts, and Advanced Diagnostics, which includes real-time and proactive vehicle health alerts.