Your Car Knows More About YOU Than You Think

Whether you realize it or not, the latest vehicles being sold by car makers are gathering huge amounts of data…and they’re fervently determining new ways to monetize it.

With 90+ million cars built in 2017 alone being spewed onto roadways worldwide, auto manufacturers now have access to unfathomable amounts of real-time data that enables them to track not only a vehicle’s location, but also stats like whether it’s headlights are currently on…and whether it’s driver bakes excessively.

Newer vehicles have dozens to even 100 built-in processors, sensors and computers…all generating data that’s sent to cloud-based servers owned by the car maker.

 

While some car makers gather this data to provide feedback that helps to improve car performance, refine future features and warn about any possible quality control issues in advance…others are using it to create new and more personalized services for drivers.  Still others have larger, revenue generating plans on crafting targeted in-vehicle advertisements.  McKinsey & Co. estimates monetizing data from connected cars will be worth up to $750 billion by 2030.

“To some extent, the sky is the limit for what could be done with the data,” ~ Cason Grover, Hyundai Motor Co. – Sr. Group Mgr. ~ Vehicle Technology Planning

These vehicle data monetization efforts are manifesting amidst increasing privacy concerns sparked by recent controversies at Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc. involving their handling of consumer data.

Car makers are quick to stress that the vehicle owner’s consent is always obtained first before gathering any data…and when collected data is provided to third parties, it is anonymized (scrubbed of all personal information and blended together with data from other vehicles…providing a more generalized view of consumer driving habits.)

Privacy experts however,  point out that it’s often unclear to consumers when they are actually giving consent….because data disclosures are often buried in the terms and service agreement and described in complex legal jargon

That’s not going to give consumers a full sense of how their data is being used and collected any more than it is online,” ~ Ryan Calo – Law Professor of Digital Privacy, University of Washington

In the technology sector…companies collect user data online and via mobile-phone usage…then sell that data to third-party app developers and marketers…or use it to either improve their own services.  The auto industry is following suit.

A lot of the reason an app or service in a car may be free is because you’re paying with your data,” Mark Boyadjis – Connected Car Research – IHS Markit

 

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