The world’s automakers have a message for customers: where you drive and how you drive is your business, not ours.
Cars are rapidly transforming into smartphones on wheels, sending enormous amounts of data to manufacturers over connected-car services such as General Motors’ OnStar or through built-in 4G data connections.
Hoping to harness this data to offer more services without eliciting an outcry over the misuse of personal information, BMW, Chrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Hyundai-Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo, Mitsubishi and Mazda today agreed to industry-wide principles to handle consumer data and safeguard customer privacy.
The principles, crafted by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers, two Washington, D.C., trade groups, will require the companies to receive permission for certain uses of data by model year 2017 at the latest, with a one-year extension available if engineering changes are required.
“Modern cars not only share the road but will in the not-too-distant future communicate with one another,” John Bozzella, president of the Association of Global Automakers, said in a statement. “Vigilance over the privacy of our customers and the security of vehicle systems is an imperative.”
♦ Car companies have agreed to disclose to consumers the types of data they collect and how that data is to be used or shared.
♦ Disclosure will be made in owner’s manuals, on displays inside vehicles or on internet-based registration portals managed by the companies.
♦ Consumers will be able to review the policies before buying a car.
♦ The principles cover a variety of data that can be collected, including so-called geolocation information about a vehicle’s location, biometric data about a driver’s physical characteristics and details about driving behavior.
♦ Car companies have also agreed to obtain permission from customers to use any personal information for marketing
♦ Automakers cannot, for example, provide insurance companies with driver behavior data that can identify a driver without that customer’s consent.
“It is unclear how auto companies will make their data collection practices transparent beyond including the information in vehicle owner manuals, and the principles do not provide consumers with a choice whether sensitive information is collected in the first place,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said in a statement. “As vehicles are equipped with 21st century wireless technology, we need auto companies to make security and privacy as standard as seatbelts and stereos for drivers and their vehicles.”
Terms and conditions
♦ The sweeping moves are significant because data collection and disclosure has varied from company to company until now. By committing to a set of standard privacy practices, the industry hopes it can avoid new regulations that may stifle innovation.
♦ Mitch Bainwol, president of the Auto Alliance, said the auto industry is committed to being transparent about customer data collection and usage by adding heightened protections for sensitive data and providing information to government authorities only under specific circumstances, such as under a court order or a warrant.
Benefits, costs
♦ Work on the new rules began in the spring using privacy protection standards including guidance from the Federal Trade Commission, the White House Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights and the Fair Information Practice Principles.
♦ The car companies insist that the benefits of connected cars vastly outweigh the costs, by enabling vehicles to automatically call for emergency services, warn drivers about traffic jams and help car owners locate a lost or stolen vehicle.
Read the original article in AutomotiveNews
