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GM puts e-commerce shopping in car dashboards

DETROIT — General Motors on Tuesday said it will equip newer cars with in-dash e-commerce technology, betting it can profit as drivers order food, find fuel or reserve hotel rooms by tapping icons on the dashboard screen, instead of using smartphones while driving. GM's Marketplace technology, developed with IBM, will be uploaded automatically to about 1.9 million model-year 2017 and later vehicles starting immediately, with about 4 million vehicles across the Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac brands equipped with the capability in the United States by the end of 2018, GM said. GM will get an undisclosed amount of revenue from merchants featured on its in-dash Marketplace, Santiago Chamorro, GM vice president for global connected customer experience, said during a briefing for reporters. Customers will not be charged for using the service or the data transmitted to and from the car while making transactions, he said. "This platform is financed by the merchants," Chamorro said. GM will get paid for placing a merchant's application on its screens, and "there's some level of revenue sharing" based on each transaction, he said. It is too soon to say how much revenue GM could realize from the Marketplace system, he said. The GM Marketplace will compete for customer clicks and revenue with hand-held smartphones, which offer a far richer array of applications than the GM system will at the outset. Amazon.com is partnering with other automakers, including Ford, to offer in-car e-commerce capability through Amazon's Alexa personal assistant system. For example, GM will launch Marketplace with just Shell and Exxon Mobil icons in the fuel category. The only restaurant available for in-car table reservations at launch is the chain TGI Fridays, GM said. In addition, there will be apps for parking, and ordering ahead at coffee shops and restaurants such as Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts and Applebee's. "We will be adding more vendors," with some coming in the first quarter of 2018, Chamorro said. In addition, he said GM plans to expand integration into its vehicles of music, news and other information services. GM also hopes to use its in-car Marketplace connections to expand purchases of products and services, such as additional access to in-car wifi, from its own replacement parts business and dealer network. Customers can "expect to see more service promotions coming through the platform," Chamorro said. Reporting by Joe WhiteRelated Video:

2020 Cadillac XT5 spied undisguised with infotainment from CT5

The reveal of the 2020 Cadillac XT5 crossover must be seriously near, because one of our spy photographers caught the new one completely undisguised. Seriously, there aren't any vinyl coverings anywhere, and the interior was completely bare, too. The update is minimal for the most part, but the interior reveals a big infotainment change. Before we get inside, we'll do a quick overview of the exterior. The front grille has a new mesh insert, and the lower air dam has a wider, thinner metallic accent. At the back, the colors for the faux skid plate or diffuser motif have been swapped. And that's it for the exterior. See? Told you it would be quick. The interior is nearly unchanged, too, except for the aforementioned infotainment system. Instead of the current model's touchscreen-only interface, the new XT5 adopts the control knob featured in the XT4, XT6 and CT5. It fits quite naturally behind the electronic shift lever. If it's like the system in other Cadillacs, fans of the touchscreen shouldn't worry, because you'll still be able to use the touch functions if you wish. Odds are we're months away from the new XT5 hitting dealers, since this is clearly a finished prototype. It will most certainly offer the same 3.6-liter, 310-horsepower V6 and 8-speed automatic of the current model. It's possible Cadillac will introduce a slightly more affordable 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4 as an option, possibly even a turbo inline-4 hybrid powertrain, since both powertrains are available on the current Chinese-market XT5.

Cadillac V-Performance Academy joins free driving school party

Just in case you needed another reason to want one of Cadillac's hottest performers, starting with the 2017 Cadillac CTS-V and ATS-V, the first owner of each vehicle can score a free two-day course at Spring Mountain Motor Resort with the V-Performance Academy. According to Spring Mountain's website, the V-Performance Academy "is designed for drivers of all experience levels and includes dynamic car control exercises, visual skill development, and proper cornering techniques," with "brief" classroom sessions sprinkled in. Driving programs like the V-Performance Academy are all the rage right now. In the last few weeks alone, both Fiat and Ford announced free one-day academies baked right into the price of cars like the 124 Abarth and Focus RS. As with the Ford and Fiat courses, Cadillac is providing the learner cars. But where those other courses call on vehicle owners to shell out for airfare, food, and in Fiat's case, lodging, Cadillac covers tuition – a $2,420 expense for non-owners – along with two nights in one of Spring Mountain's "luxury condominiums" and breakfast and lunch during both driving days. Students are still on the hook for airfare, although Caddy will shuttled attendees from Las Vegas McCarren to the track/resort, some 55 miles away. If you can't shell out for the flight to Las Vegas, a new CTS-V or ATS-V, or simply can't spare two days for a driving school, Cadillac is ramping up for another year of its one-day, traveling V-Performance Lab, which will run at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut and at Circuit of the Americas in Texas. Related Video: