This episode is about cars and data tracking. We are going to look at what types of data car manufacturers are collecting and sharing, how these companies obtain your consent, and some of the key legal issues.

You may have heard about the Texas Attorney General (Ken Paxton) suing General Motors for allegedly collecting driving data and supplying it to insurance agencies without car owners’ consent or knowledge. Apparently, General Motors collected detailed data from 14 million cars, each time they were driven. 1.8 million of those cars were in Texas.

An analyst at Telemetry told CNN that 90 percent of new cars send driving data back to their manufacturers, and drivers would need to read the fine print of their purchase agreements or vehicle manual to learn that it was happening.

Then there’s Teslas. Tesla owners and the general public are aware that Teslas collect a lot of data. People who vandalized Teslas recently were caught on the cars’ cameras carrying out their criminal acts. And aside from having cameras throughout the cars, Teslas harvest data about driving habits, charging issues, energy use, and vehicle performance. And Tesla says the data is used to make business decisions and improve their products.

There is growing concern about data collection by automotive manufacturers. The Federal Trade Commission has had connected cars on its radar for years, with concerns about collection of biometric and other personal data at the top of its list of concerns. But cars may also be collecting video of you or your journey, as well as collecting your location data.

Media outlets have suggested that the data collected is often shared with insurers, for a price, and could be used to increase drivers’ premiums. Hensley Legal Group suggested that the telematic data from your car could be used to find you at fault, if for example you hit the brakes fast to avoid an accident. This is because the data can’t illustrate that you were driving defensively, and so your insurer could use your braking in that moment to show that you were driving recklessly, in an attempt to avoid paying more compensation out for a no-fault claim.

Insurers, including Geico, State Farm, Nationwide, Allstate, Liberty Mutual, and Progressive have all rolled out apps over the years to track drivers, telling drivers that if they install the app on their phone it could help them qualify for safe driving discounts. But 45 percent of drivers surveyed by Pew Research Center in 2015 were dubious about the insurance companies’ motivations, and thought that installing an insurance company’s app would do more harm than good. Only 35 percent of people surveyed said they might be willing to install an app to get a discount.

So this data collection has a lot of implications for as drivers and could end up costing us if we get in an accident. Given that this data collection is so pervasive, we can try to make informed decisions when purchasing our cars, and the FTC reminds us that when we sell our cars, we really should clear out all of our data.

Thank you for joining me today. That’s all for this episode of Privacy and Data Tracking Online. Our next episode will be about teens and data tracking.

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