Cadillac's CUE

Cadillac is trying to one up its competitors by introducing it's new Cadillac User Experience. The CUE is driven by technology:

Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Co.’s Cadillac plans to offer an in-car data, navigation and media system next year with a tablet computer-style touch screen and applications that the company hopes will distinguish the brand from luxury rivals.

Cadillac is taking a cue from the trends in mobile technology:

“This is a differentiator moving us above and beyond our competitors,” said Micky Bly, GM’s executive director of global electric systems and infotainment, in an interview in San Diego. “IPhone, iPads, Droids, all those things are out there now, and people are familiar with that style of device navigation.”

CUE offers a lot of great features:

Along with exterior styling, fuel-efficiency and engine advances, automakers are competing for buyers with sophisticated in-car electronics that provide more than route guidance, real- time traffic information and hands-free phone calls. CUE will offer a broad range of data and applications, including Pandora Media Inc.’s music service, and will be easiest to use, Detroit- based GM said.

So is it a game changer? That's what Motor Trend asked, and upon review, concluded:

So how is it? This pre-production example wasn’t 100 percent there yet by the developers’ own admission, but with the kinks worked out, CUE has the potential to be a real game changer. As it should; when Cadillac set about designing CUE two years ago, its goal was to do what the smart phone did to the cell phone, by incorporating iPad-like technology into an intuitive user interface.

It's a very intriguing technology that should make the driver experience better, and Motor Trend likes the potential of it:

Perhaps the coolest thing about Cadillac’s CUE is its potential. Taking yet another page out of Apple’s playbook, Cadillac isn’t giving its customers everything yet. Rather, it’s leaving room for improvement and upgrades, and leaving its customers wanting more. While we need to spend a bit more time with a production-ready CUE before passing a final verdict on it, we will say that the potential for a game changer is there. Will CUE be Facebook, or will it be MySpace? Only time will tell.

I don't know if this is something that will be a clear differentiation between Cadillac and its competitors, but it will certainly be something that will draw interest in new buyers. More than anything, Cadillac could benefit from the buzz and getting these people in the showroom. Ultimately, what's going to sell cars is making great cars. This technology certainly can help with that.