Minority Report-style advertising on the way from GM

General Motors has applied for a patent for billboard technology that can serve up individually–tailored advertising to drivers based on their previous navigational inputs.

This represents a step towards the future experienced by Tom Cruise in the 2002 sci-fi film Minority Report, where citizens are bombarded by advertising that has tracked their past preferences, reports Jalopnik.

It's not all Orwellian just yet though.

At the moment GM's Onstar service is only allowed to use the last destination entered into the navigation system. The personalised records are then deleted but anonymous information is sent to Onstar to track overall patterns of driving behaviour, including seasonal trends.

No information is available yet as to how billboards would distinguish between multiple drivers passing at the same time.

Major credit card companies have been using this kind of technology for years, but this is the first time it has been used in the motoring world.

It also mirrors online ad targeting which can serve ads to users based on their recent habits.