California-style high speed chases may one day be a relic of history. That’s of course only if every car on the road somehow gets outfitted with OnStar, and everyone activates their cool new feature: Stolen Vehicle Slowdown. The concept is simple, really. If your car gets stolen, and you’ve activated the feature, calling the police will now have some very high-tech consequences.

OnStar’s command center will be contacted, and your vehicle located (it has GPS as part of OnStar anyway, but you knew that, right?). Once the police has a line of sight, and they determine it’s safe, the command center can then cause the vehicle to decelerate and eventually stop. No high speed chase, no crashes, nothing.

Perhaps a little underwhelming for a world accustomed to seeing such chases on television, but certainly a lot safer for any innocent bystanders that might otherwise end up injured or dead.

You can expect the service to be available in select 2009 models.

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