At the beginning of April we brought you information about OnStar’s announcement concerning a couple of new navigation-based technologies it will soon be offering in nearly all GM vehicles equipped with the OnStar gear (that big blue button on your rearview mirror, for most of you who drive a newer model GM).

Today we visited with the traveling tour of the upcoming Generation 8 technology that will soon be ending high-speed stolen vehicle police chases as we know them - at least if the stolen vehicle is a new GM product.

Stolen Vehicle Slowdown, or SVS for short, is the latest brainstorm from the folks who now perform some 61,000 vehicle unlocks per month for its customers. And OnStar expects to be conducting SVS interventions about 600 times a year to start, beginning with select new 2009 GM models.

OnStar demonstrated the technology to us during a training seminar for area law enforcement officers on the local stop of a nationwide tour. They invited me to slide behind the wheel of a new Tahoe and “drive it like it’s stolen.”

Who can resist that?

No sooner do I step on the gas and get rolling that the hazard lights flash to verify that this vehicle is the targeted stolen Tahoe and my accelerator pedal actions are soon for naught. The engine is still running, and I have full steering and brake control, but no gas. The vehicle slows to a crawl (and luckily the air conditioning keeps running) until we can only travel at about 4 mph. And that won’t make for “breaking news at 6″ on any channel.

SVS will be available in the U.S. and Canada and is intended to protect innocent bystanders and police officers put at risk by the hazards of high-speed pursuits involving stolen vehicles. Statistics provided by OnStar have 40 percent of high-speed chases resulting in property damage and 25 percent causing injury or death.

How the Stolen Vehicle Slowdown works:
An OnStar subscriber files a stolen vehicle report with law enforcement and requests Stolen Vehicle Location Assistance from OnStar.
OnStar advisors work with local law enforcement to locate the stolen vehicle using GPS technology.

Law enforcement officials at the scene confirm the location, make, model and color of the vehicle to ensure the correct vehicle will be slowed down.

Law enforcement at the scene confirms conditions are safe enough and request that OnStar initiate a Stolen Vehicle Slowdown.
Using the in-vehicle communications link, OnStar adviser remotely slows the vehicle to a gradual stop.

Of course, as with all OnStar services, the communication technology is cellular-based so there must be a cell signal available. This probably won’t work in the middle of a desert but should most other places, especially where auto theft is extremely high and high-speed pursuits are everyday news.