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    Baker Hughes CEO lays out 'hard truths' behind the energy transition as gas prices surge

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    The reasons for the spike in gas prices are varied but its effect is already being felt on the ground.
    In the U.K., for example, it has caused a number of small energy suppliers to go bust. 

    Toader Andrei | EyeEm | Getty Images

    The CEO of energy technology firm Baker Hughes has outlined what he feels are key points related to the energy transition amid deepening concern about rising gas prices and the knock-on effects this could have in the months ahead.
    In an interview with CNBC’s Dan Murphy at the Gastech conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates earlier this week, Lorenzo Simonelli was asked whether soaring gas prices were likely to be transitory or if he expected wider implications for consumers, markets and the broader economy.

    “I think a lot of people are seeing what’s happening in Europe and it’s bringing to light the important discussion around the energy transition, and the importance that we have around gas as well,” he said.
    It was still early to see if prices would remain high or if this rise was transitory, he said.Benchmark European gas prices have jumped over 250% since the start of the year, Reuters reported this week.
    The reasons for the spike are varied. The influential, yet typically conservative, International Energy Agency said on Tuesday that surging European gas prices had “been driven by a combination of a strong recovery in demand and tighter-than-expected supply, as well as several weather-related factors.” 
    “These include a particularly cold and long heating season in Europe last winter, and lower-than-usual availability of wind energy in recent weeks,” it said.
    IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said given that the reasons behind the price rise were multifaceted, it would be “inaccurate and misleading to lay the responsibility at the door of the clean energy transition.”

    Birol’s statement would appear to contrast views expressed by figures such as OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo. Barkindo told CNBC on Tuesday that soaring gas prices were the cost of the attempted shift to renewable energy sources.
    “I have talked about a new premium that is emerging in the energy markets that I term the transition premium,” Barkindo said.

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    The effect of the gas price rise is already being felt on the ground. In the U.K., for example, it has caused a number of small energy suppliers to go bust. “We need energy security,” Baker Hughes’ Simonelli said. “And look, there’s plenty of gas around the world, there’s plenty of energy available,” he added. “It’s a question of bringing it to the market.”
    On the energy transition — a term referring to a move from fossil-fuel based sources to ones such as solar and wind — Simonelli sought to highlight a number of issues he felt were important.
    “We think there’s three hard truths,” he said. “Firstly, we’ve got to work together, accelerate the move towards decarbonization and also eliminating emissions.””Secondly, hydrocarbons are here to stay … and natural gas, in fact, is a key element. And thirdly, we’ve got to do it together, collaborate and actually adopt the new technologies that are available.”
    Burning fossil fuels, such as oil and gas, is the chief driver of the climate emergency. And despite policymakers and business leaders repeatedly touting their commitment to net zero strategies, the world’s fossil fuel dependency is expected to get even worse in the coming decades.
    None of the world’s major economies are currently on track to contain global heating to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to a study published by Carbon Action Tracker earlier this month, while separate research shows the vast majority of the world’s known fossil fuel reserves must be kept in the ground to have some hope of preventing the worst effects of climate change.
    The role of natural gas
    The current crisis surrounding the price of gas has reinforced its continuing significance, even as major economies such as the U.K., European Union and U.S. outline plans to move away from fossil fuels in the years ahead.
    Indeed, in its statement issued Tuesday, the IEA said gas remained “an important tool for balancing electricity markets in many regions today.”

    Read more about clean energy from CNBC Pro

    “As clean energy transitions advance on a path towards net zero emissions, global gas demand will start to decline, but it will remain an important component of electricity security,” the Paris-based organization added.
    In his interview with CNBC, Simonelli was asked about the role gas would play in the race to net zero. “You just have to look at Europe and look at the United States with regards to the way they’ve been successful in the last decades to actually reduce their CO2 emissions,” he said.
    “You’ve seen a shift from coal to natural gas and that’s going to continue as you look at it from an emissions profile,” he said. “So, you can reduce the footprint of natural gas from an emissions standpoint. It is already one of the most efficient fuels and we think it’s here to stay.”
    — CNBC’s Natasha Turak contributed to this report More

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    Judge releases redacted lunar lander lawsuit from Bezos' Blue Origin against NASA-SpaceX contract

    The U.S Federal Court of Claims released a redacted version of the lawsuit filed in August by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin against NASA over a lunar lander contract awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
    Read the full redacted lawsuit below.

    The facade of Blue Origin’s new rocket engine factory in Huntsville, Alabama.
    CNBC | Michael Sheetz

    The U.S. Federal Court of Claims on Wednesday released a redacted version of the lawsuit by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin against NASA over the lucrative lunar lander contract awarded to Elon Musk’s SpaceX earlier this year.
    “Historically a staunch advocate for prioritizing safety, NASA inexplicably disregarded key flight safety requirements for only SpaceX, in order to select and make award to a SpaceX proposal that assessed as tremendously high risk and immensely complex, even before the waiver of safety requirements,” Blue Origin said in the lawsuit filed in August.

    Blue Origin’s complaint came after the U.S. Government Accountability Office denied the company’s protest, upholding NASA’s decision.
    The congressional watchdog’s ruling backed the space agency’s surprise announcement in April that NASA awarded SpaceX with a lunar lander contract worth about $2.9 billion. SpaceX was competing with Blue Origin and Dynetics for what was expected to be two contracts, before NASA awarded only a single contract due to a lower-than-expected allocation for the program from Congress.
    Read the full copy of Blue Origin’s redacted lawsuit below.

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    Payments giant Nexi says it is working on digital euro with the European Central Bank

    Nexi CEO Paolo Bertoluzzo said the Italian payments firm is “contributing to the design” of the European Central Bank’s proposed digital currency.
    The ECB outlined plans for a digital version of the euro in July, aiming to complement the existing monetary system rather than replacing physical cash.
    Central banks around the world are actively working on or exploring their own central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs.

    Italian payments giant Nexi says it is working with the European Central Bank on its proposed central bank digital currency.
    “We are engaging with the European Central Bank and contributing to the design of the future digital euro because we believe that can be a positive force in the evolution of digital payments,” Nexi CEO Paolo Bertoluzzo told CNBC’s Karen Tso at the Money 20/20 fintech conference in Amsterdam on Tuesday.

    The ECB outlined its plans for a digital version of the euro in July. The euro zone’s central bank envisages the currency as complementary to its existing monetary system, rather than replacing physical cash or reducing the role of commercial lenders.
    An ECB spokesperson declined to comment.
    Central banks around the world are actively working on or exploring their own central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs. It comes as cash use is increasingly on the decline in several developed economies, and amid growing interest in cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.
    China is seen as the leading player in the race toward CBDCs, having tested its digital yuan currency with millions of citizens in a number of regions. Earlier this year, the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would soon release a research paper exploring the prospect of a digital dollar, while the Bank of England is also examining the potential of central bank-issued digital money.
    Nexi’s chief said his company was helping to inform the ECB’s thinking on CBDCs.

    “The situation will evolve because clearly there will be more to it,” Bertoluzzo said. “We’re starting to talk about a new version of cash. That’s the way they think about it.”
    Bertoluzzo said digital currencies like bitcoin and ether were unlikely to play a role in cross-border payments, citing wild swings in the prices of such assets.
    “They are clearly an asset class,” he said. “But they fluctuate up and down on a daily basis based on the latest statement from someone in Silicon Valley … which is exactly the opposite of what you need in payments. You need the certainty of the value you are exchanging.”
    “Today those types of cryptocurrencies have basically zero impact in payments,” Bertoluzzo said, adding he thinks CBDCs and stablecoins designed to avoid volatility seen in other cryptocurrencies will play a much larger role.
    With a market value of over $20 billion, Nexi is one of the biggest payment companies in the European Union. Last year, the firm signed two major acquisitions, agreeing to buy rivals SIA and Nets for a combined total of $14.5 billion. It competes for business in the electronic payments space with the Netherlands’ Adyen and France’s Worldline.

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    UK sets date to accept UAE-vaccinated travelers after months blocking popular travel route

    The news comes as a relief to many in the expatriate-majority desert sheikhdom of 10 million, of which at least 150,000 are British citizens who were unable to visit their families since the U.K. put the UAE on a red list for travel last January. 
    The red list designation meant that travelers from the UAE — including British citizens and those who had been vaccinated in the UAE — had to quarantine for 10 days in a U.K.-government-designated hotel at a personal cost of nearly £2,000 if they wanted to enter the country.  

    Businessman walk past an Emirates Airbus A380 during the Dubai Airshow on November 18, 2013 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
    Christopher Furlong | Getty Images

    The U.K. will accept travelers vaccinated in the United Arab Emirates beginning Oct. 4, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said Wednesday, reopening a popular travel route after months of deterring people coming from the UAE with costly and strict hotel quarantine requirements.   
    “We will be accepting UAE vaccination certificates from 4th Oct following updates to their vaccination app,” Shapps said in a Twitter post. “As a major transport hub which is home to many British expats, this is great news for reopening international travel, boosting business & reuniting families.” 

    The news comes as a relief to many in the expatriate-majority desert sheikhdom of 10 million, of which at least 150,000 are British citizens who were unable to visit their families since the U.K. put the UAE on a red list for travel last January. 
    “I’m well chuffed about the idea of visiting my family and poorly grandad hassle free,” Amy Saraireh, a British national living in Dubai, told CNBC in response to the news.
    The red list designation meant that travelers from the UAE — including British citizens and those who had been vaccinated in the UAE — had to quarantine for 10 days in a U.K.-government-designated hotel at a personal cost of nearly £2,000 if they wanted to enter the country.  
    By spring, tens of thousands of people living in the UAE had signed a petition demanding the U.K. government change the travel designation, citing high Covid vaccination rates in the country. But the U.K. government resisted making changes, citing the UAE’s status as a popular travel hub as a risk, despite cases of the delta variant sweeping the U.K. at the time.

    Dubai International Airport was ranked as the busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic in 2019, and the Dubai-London route was one of the most popular for Dubai’s flagship carrier Emirates Airline. 

    The UAE has one of the world’s highest rates of vaccination against the coronavirus. The country’s vaccine drive has relied heavily on the Chinese-made Sinopharm vaccine, amid questions about the effectiveness of the shot compared to those made elsewhere. At the same time, breakthrough cases have surged among people vaccinated by American and European-made shots as well. 
    It is unclear whether Sinpoharm-vaccinated travelers will fall into the same category as those vaccinated with U.K.-approved shots like those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-Astrazeneca.  
    The change to the travel rules will come just after the start of Dubai’s flagship Expo 2020 event, which begins Oct. 1 and was postponed for a year due to the pandemic. It will carry on for six months, and the emirate hopes to attract 25 million visitors to the event, a year-and-a-half after Covid brought global mobility to a standstill. 

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    SpaceX research, with Elon Musk as an author, details Covid protections for first astronaut launch

    SpaceX launched people to space for the first time in May 2020, a few months after the Covid pandemic began to spread across the United States.
    Elon Musk’s company added quarantine precautions to protect NASA’s astronauts in the weeks before launch, according to research recently published in an academic journal.
    “The commercial implementation of the NASA Health Stabilization Program by SpaceX with adjustments required during the COVID-19 pandemic was a success,” the report said.

    NASA astronaut Douglas Hurley rehearses putting on his SpaceX spacesuit in the Astronaut Crew Quarters inside the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at the Kennedy Space Center ahead of NASA’s SpaceX Demo-2 mission to the International Space Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S. May 23, 2020.
    Kim Shiflett | NASA | Reuters

    SpaceX launched people to space for the first time in May 2020, a few months after the Covid pandemic began to spread across the United States, and Elon Musk’s company added quarantine precautions to protect NASA’s astronauts in the weeks before launch, according to research recently published in an academic journal.
    NASA has had its Flight Crew Health Stabilization program in place for decades, which was initially created during the 1960s Gemini missions and matured during the Apollo missions.

    SpaceX’s Demo-2 launch, carrying astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, was the first time a private company adapted NASA’s program for a mission. Former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine explained to CNBC in April 2020 some of the measures the agency and company were taking to protect the astronauts. SpaceX launched the pair to the International Space Station on May 30, 2020, and returned them safely on Aug. 2, 2020.
    “The commercial implementation of the NASA Health Stabilization Program by SpaceX with adjustments required during the COVID-19 pandemic was a success, with protocols allowing identification and removal of potentially infectious persons from the program,” the report said.
    The report was published in the July edition of the journal of Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance. Authors of the report featured engineers at SpaceX – including Musk himself – as well as representatives at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the schools of medicine at Dartmouth, Stanford, the University of Arizona and more.

    NASA’s existing program includes a flight crew quarantine beginning 14 days before launch, to limit interaction with others to only those who are known as “primary contacts.” The report said 91 SpaceX employees were entered as primary contacts into the company’s adaptation of NASA’s health stabilization program,
    Forty-five days before launch, SpaceX began distributing health screening questionnaires to potential primary contacts. Twenty-eight days before launch, SpaceX began a daily morning survey, with 25 questions to check for symptoms of Covid. The SpaceX flight surgeon received the results of the survey for review each night and followed up with anyone who reported new symptoms. The report said the survey had a 93.4% average daily response rate.

    The report noted that 2,720 surveys were completed pre-launch, with 198, or 7.3%, returning with potential symptoms of Covid – with the most common being joint pain, cough, sneezing, abdominal pain, or headache. During the surveying period, 22 employees were contacted by the SpaceX flight surgeon, and five of those employees were reexamined.
    “All exams were unremarkable and additional COVID-19 RT-PCR testing was performed on two of the five individuals, who tested negative and returned to duty,” the report said, referring to a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test.
    Two others were removed from the program “for potential infectious disease,” the report noted, but “both had chronic medical conditions which were difficult to distinguish from infectious disease.”

    SpaceX headquarters in Los Angeles, California.
    AaronP/Bauer-Griffin | GC Images | Getty Images

    SpaceX created a “closed-loop system” for interactions with the NASA crew, including flying only by agency or private aircraft, sterilized vehicles, a private entrance to the SpaceX training center, and required face masks and temperature checks. Any SpaceX personnel who would come in “close contact” with the astronauts also completed PCR testing 48 hours before.
    The report concluded that SpaceX’s precautions were successful, but noted it could be improved through better “monitoring of areas that were accessible to personnel not under [health stabilization program] protocol.” NASA’s launchpad 39A “was accessed by certain personnel who were not participating” in the program, which created “a potential point of transmission.”
    “In addition, further research is needed to adapt [Health Stabilization Program] protocols for pandemic environments when the prevalence of disease in the community is high,” the report noted.

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    Sport-focused NFT start-ups raise over $900 million in crypto gold rush

    Dapper Labs, the start-up behind digital basketball trading card platform NBA Top Shot, is now valued at $7.6 billion following a $250 million funding round.
    Sorare, a French fantasy soccer game that incorporates NFTs, raised $680 million in a round led by SoftBank which valued the company at $4.3 billion.
    Crypto and blockchain start-ups have received about $19 billion in venture funding so far this year, according to figures shared with CNBC by data firm Pitchbook.

    LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers drives to the basket against the Phoenix Suns during the 2021 NBA Playoffs on June 3, 2021.
    Adam Pantozzi | National Basketball Association | Getty Images

    Two start-ups in the red-hot NFT market raised a combined $930 million this week, highlighting continued appetite from investors for cryptocurrency companies as the industry experiences massive growth.
    Dapper Labs, which makes virtual basketball trading cards, said Wednesday it has raised $250 million in a funding round led by Coatue. Bond, the investment firm run by former Wall Street analyst Mary Meeker, and Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC also backed the round.

    The new round values the Vancouver, Canada-based firm at $7.6 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter who preferred to remain anonymous as the information is not public.
    Sorare, a French fantasy soccer game that incorporates NFTs, also announced Tuesday that it bagged $680 million in a bumper cash injection led by SoftBank. Venture capital companies Atomico, Bessemer Ventures and IVP also invested, along with investment firms D1 Capital and Eurazeo.
    French soccer star Antoine Griezmann and former English player Rio Ferdinand are also investors in Sorare.
    The investment gives Sorare a valuation of $4.3 billion, the company said, making it by far the most valuable private tech firm in France and one of the largest start-ups in Europe.

    What are NFTs?

    NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are a new but fast-growing phenomenon in the crypto industry. They are digital tokens that represent ownership of a virtual item, such as a work of art. Ownership is tracked on the blockchain, a digital ledger of transactions.

    Unlike bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, NFTs aren’t fungible. This means they cannot be exchanged with one another like dollars or gold. Each NFT is unique and acts as a collector’s item that can’t be duplicated — however, the underlying media can still be viewed by someone else on the internet.
    “When we think about the collectibles in the physical world, most of them have no utility value,” Nicolas Julia, CEO and cop-founder of Sorare, explained. “You put them in an album and that’s nice but it’s kind of limiting.”
    “When you translate it to NFTs in the digital world, there’s many more things which you can do, like using them in a game for instance. But you also have provable scarcity, which is very appealing to collectors.”
    Prices of NFTs spiked earlier this year, with sales reaching a record $2.5 billion in the first half of 2021. High-profile transactions include a record $69 million artwork sold by digital artist Beeple at a Christie’s auction and the $2.9 million sale of the first-ever tweet by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
    The huge sums of money flowing into firms like Dapper Labs and Sorare highlights how investors are chasing the next big thing in crypto.
    Crypto and blockchain start-ups have received about $19 billion in venture funding so far this year, almost triple the $6.4 billion raised by the sector in 2020, according to figures shared with CNBC by data firm Pitchbook.

    However, like other assets in the fledgling crypto industry, NFTs have proven vulnerable to abuse by bad actors. Last week, digital collectibles marketplace OpenSea disclosed that insider trading had occurred on its platform.

    NFTs enter the world of sport

    Several sports organizations are turning to NFTs and other crypto assets as a way of making additional revenue.
    English Premier League club Manchester City, for example, has launched two collections of NFTs. Meanwhile, a number of soccer clubs have launched “fan tokens” that allow holders to vote on mostly minor club decisions and receive certain perks.
    Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot platform lets users trade and collect basketball match highlights in the form of NFTs. The highlights, or “moments,” are licensed by the NBA, which receives royalties on each transaction.
    Dapper Labs also developed its own blockchain designed for NFTs, called Flow. It had previously used Ethereum but shifted away from that network after its popular digital pet game CryptoKitties in 2017 led to slower transaction processing. It’s currently in the process of migrating CryptoKitties to Flow.

    In addition to announcing its latest funding Wednesday, Dapper Labs unveiled a partnership with LaLiga, Spain’s top soccer league, to introduce a similar experience to NBA Top Shot for soccer fans. Dapper Labs says it plans to invest part of the fresh cash into new experiences, like paid trips to big games.
    “Part of this funding will go toward expanding functionality on NBA Top shot, developing a mobile product, and connecting the digital collecting experience with the experience of a fan showing up to a live game, or even supporting their team on social media,” Roham Gharegozlou, Dapper Labs’ CEO, told CNBC.
    It comes a week after LaLiga announced a separate partnership with Sorare to add digital player cards from the league. 
    Sorare is also upping its rivalry with Dapper Labs, planning to expand into the U.S. with a new office on the ground. Sorare has been approached by a number of U.S. sports organizations, its CEO told CNBC.
    Sorare also plans to launch a mobile app and have all of the top 20 soccer leagues signed up by the end of 2022. Both Dapper Labs and Sorare indicated they hope to take advantage of sports stars’ huge social media followings to get the word out about their platforms.

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    Robinhood to launch cryptocurrency wallets as bitcoin becomes a bigger part of business

    Robinhood is testing “crypto wallets” with select clients next month to allow investors to send, receive and move cryptocurrencies in and out of the Robinhood app.
    In recent months, some users have taken to social media to complain that by using Robinhood, they had exposure to crypto prices but not actual ownership of the coins themselves.
    The move comes as cryptocurrency makes up an increasingly large part of Robinhood’s revenue.

    Arrows pointing outwards

    Robinhood is debuting a feature that gives traders more control over digital tokens in its latest expansion in the cryptocurrency space.
    The newly public brokerage is testing “crypto wallets” with select clients next month, the company announced in a blog post Wednesday. The so-called wallet will allow investors to trade, send and receive digital currencies, as well as move them in and out of the Robinhood app.

    In recent months, some users — particularly Dogecoin traders — have taken to social media to complain that by using Robinhood as their broker, they had exposure to crypto prices but not actual ownership of the coins themselves.
    “We’re not first to the market — we’ve been taking our time to make sure that we build this in a phased approach,” Robinhood’s chief product officer Aparna Chennapragada told CNBC in a phone interview. “We’ll have a few customers come in, iterate on the product, get the customer feedback and then expand from there.”
    Certain clients will begin testing the product and Robinhood will share their feedback over its blog and Twitter, said Chennapragada, who spent 12 years at Google leading product, engineering and design teams before joining Robinhood. The rollout will eventually allow clients on a waitlist to join.

    Robinhood’s growing crypto business

    The start-up debuted cryptocurrency trading three years ago but it has become increasingly important to the company’s top line. Last quarter, more than half of Robinhood’s transaction-based revenue came from cryptocurrency trading, up from just 3% a year earlier.
    The new wallets will let clients to consolidate their digital coins into one account. Clients can then trade, send and receive cryptocurrencies to and from other wallet addresses. Rivals Coinbase and Gemini already offer this feature. Bloomberg News first reported Robinhood’s plan to roll out this feature in a beta version of the trading app.

    Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have seen sharp volatility since bitcoin’s all-time high in April amid more concerns about regulation.
    Cryptocurrencies took a dive alongside the broader market on Monday, with bitcoin ending the day about 7% lower. The slide resurfaced the debate about whether bitcoin can or should serve as a safe-haven asset. In more recent years, bitcoin has shown more of a tendency to dip with the broader markets.

    Arrows pointing outwards

    Robinhood also said a new feature that allows the set-up of recurring crypto investments is live on the app on Wednesday. Clients can schedule a crypto purchase, commission free, for as low as $1.
    The broker’s move comes as cryptocurrencies are under more scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly Chairman Gary Gensler. Last week, Gensler assured lawmakers that Wall Street’s top regulator is working overtime to create a set of rules to oversee the volatile cryptocurrency markets, while balancing the interests of American innovators.
    “Currently, we just don’t have enough investor protection in crypto finance, issuance, trading, or lending,” Gensler said in prepared remarks to the Senate Banking Committee. “Frankly, at this time, it’s more like the Wild West or the old world of ‘buyer beware’ that existed before the securities laws were enacted.”
    Robinhood said the crypto wallets will have several safety features including identity verification, multi-factor authentication, and email and phone verification to keep coins safe from hackers.
    “We are completely aligned with our regulators and the SEC to make sure that we are working on this with educational tools, with protection with safety. That’s great for customers that’s great for us,” Chennapragada said.
    Shares of Robinhood ticked 2% higher in premarket trading on Wednesday.

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    GM expands OnStar by offering 911 emergency services for your home through Amazon Alexa

    General Motors plans to expand its OnStar Guardian emergency services from an in-vehicle feature and phone-based app to at home with Amazon Alexa.
    The company said it will launch a new skill for Amazon’s popular voice assistant that allows subscribers to connect with OnStar emergency-certified advisors by saying, “Alexa, call for help.”
    For GM, the expansion is a small step in its growth strategy to build relationships with customers beyond vehicle ownership.

    Andrew Matthews | PA Images | Getty Images

    DETROIT – General Motors plans to expand its OnStar emergency services from an in-vehicle feature and phone-based app to a home-based 911 system for Amazon Alexa.
    The Detroit automaker on Wednesday said it will launch a new OnStar Guardian for Amazon’s popular voice assistant that allows subscribers to connect with OnStar emergency-certified advisors by saying, “Alexa, call for help.”

    Amazon Alexa does not currently have an emergency service but customers can program an emergency contact for the device to call.
    For GM, the expansion is a small step in its growth strategy to build customers beyond vehicle ownership. The company is attempting to pivot itself into more recurring revenue opportunities such as subscription services like OnStar.
    GM said the new Alexa feature will first launch for select existing OnStar customers in October, followed by a broader roll out in 2022.
    Pricing for the new feature will be announced at a later date, according to GM. Its current OnStar Guardian app for Apple and Android smartphones is $15 a month. The app offers mobile crash response, limited roadside assistance and 24/7 emergency services.
    GM currently provides OnStar and connected services to 16 million customers in the U.S. and Canada. Of those, more than 270,000 OnStar members have signed up for OnStar Guardian safety services.
    – CNBC’s Annie Palmer contributed to this report.

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