From The Folks Who Brought You The Hummer

(They also brought you XM Satellite Radio.) Dang it, just lost most of my thoughts about Tony Scott's talk, but the gist has been that digital identity issues are permeating all of GM's projects these days, from customer relationships to inventory control to production. OnStar, GM Online Auctions, direct-to-consumer ordering in Brazil, the My Socrates employee portal. GM is part of the Liberty Alliance to help give business input into digital identity infrastructures, and work toward common standards and interoperability.

Regarding data tracked by OnStar: "You can see a model where you log into the car." Would give you access to same resources you would have at your office or at home. "The thought of having to do control-alt-delete as you're driving down the highway is a little scary."

What's to come: gas to fuel cells; mechanics to "drive by wire" (piloting like the space shuttle). Things that look like IT industry standards will begin to have parallels in the automotive field. Differences in car environment, most of today's IT tech wouldn't survive very well. "People won't wait for the car to boot up."