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Automakers Unwilling To Share Driver Data (Yet)

An anonymous reader writes: With Apple and Google both vying for a place in your car's dashboard, you might start wondering to what extent the data you generate while driving might be analyzed or shared with advertisers. The good news is that car manufacturers are not keen to give this data away — some have specifically said they won't let Google or Apple get their hands on it. The bad news is that they feel this way because they see your data as a new source of profit — they're just deciding how best to harvest it. One executive at Ford said, "We need to control access to that data. We need to protect our ability to create value." According to the article, "Auto companies hope to profit from in-vehicle data in a variety of ways, including the provision of travel planning services and auto repair and service information they hope will bring drivers to dealerships. They also expect to work with insurance companies, providing information that would allow insurers to base their rates on a driver's behavior behind the wheel."

6 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Oh Spare Me Please. by AltGrendel · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I really don't want any of this from them.
    Just stop this "It's for your own good" crap.

    --
    The simple truth is that interstellar distances will not fit into the human imagination

    - Douglas Adams

  2. Sounds like a new corporate prison system by codeAlDente · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Step 1: Distract driver with advertisements Step 2: Collect revenue from auto repair shops and lawyers Step 3: Collect federal grant money to work with insurance companies to improve safety

    --
    He once inserted random mutations into his code, just so he could have the experience of debugging.
  3. Copyright? by JaneTheIgnorantSlut · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Since I created the data by driving, and it is unique to my driving, can I assert copyright over it?

  4. Fuck everything about this. by flacco · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > The bad news is that they feel this way because they see your data as a new source of profit — they're just deciding how best to harvest it.

    It's really great how car co's just assume they are entitled to have this data.

    I do not want this in my car, at all, in any form. No "opt out" or "we take your privacy seriously", nothing. I want it physically impossible for them to collect data.

    --
    pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
  5. expect the hacker by nimbius · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When did every waking moment of my life have to be a monetizeable asset? This all grinds to a halt with an informed consumer and the hacker is no different. We were the ones to create and install adblock, noscript, ssl everywhere, and refuse location data. We null-routed known advertisers IP ranges and took back our internet, and if the same dog-and-pony capitalism is coming to transportation, You can be damn sure we will hack it. And if it cant be hacked, I havent met a peripheral or device that cant be removed with the help of a solder rework station and a pair of needle nose pliers.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
  6. Wrong by Rhyas · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I generate this data. I own this car. This is my data, not the company who made my car. If it's a rental, sure, go ahead and do what you want with that. But if I own the car, that data is MINE to choose whom I give it to, or don't give it to, and use as I see fit.

    This isn't any different than any other appliance or device. I own my computer, The manufacturers that made it don't own the data that's created by using it. Tired of companies thinking they own what I do with the stuff they sell me. It's getting ridiculous.