GM is rolling out OnStar Personal Calling in the Detroit area this week. The new OnStar feature offers hands-free, voice-activated cell phone access; access to Internet info, including e-mail and news reports; and prepaid cellular minutes. Hands-free cell phone service with the OnStar package is available in more than 30 of GM's 2002 and 2001 cars and trucks offered by Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, GMC and Saab in Southeast Michigan starting this week. It will be available nationwide by the end of April, according to company officials. GM hopes to build OnStar -- the electronic satellite-based communication system first introduced in 1996 in Cadillacs -- into a high-volume profit generator with a large subscription base. Subscribers also can use a cell-phone to access OnStar's virtual adviser, a new feature where subscribers use voice commands for Internet access, including e-mail, news, stock prices, sports scores and weather reports. GM expects annual revenues from OnStar to increase to $4 billion by 2005, up from an estimated $750 million in 2001, according to Ronald Zarrella, president of GM North America. Eventually, OnStar will provide GM with $1 billion in net income a year, Zarrella said last month. Last year, GM installed OnStar in 1 million vehicles and plans to equip 4 million vehicles by the end of 2003. GM also has cut deals to put OnStar in some Honda Motor Company and Toyota Motor Corporation vehicles and expects to announce deals with at least two more automakers by year's end. Other automakers also hope to capitalize on growing demand for in-vehicle communications systems. Next year, Ford Motor Company plans to launch Wingcast, a similar communications system being developed with Qualcomm Inc. Up until now, OnStar has been primarily a safety and security service that put a driver in contact with an operator at the push of a button. With personal calling, OnStar subscribers can make phone calls on the road using pre-paid minutes, thus broadening the appeal of the service.