Your Car Knows When You Gain Weight
Bill Hanvey, president and CEO of the Auto Care Association, wrote an editorial published in the New York Times this week. The following exerpt was taken from the first few paragraphs of that editorial:
Cars produced today are essentially smartphones with wheels. For drivers, this has meant many new features: automatic braking, turn-by-turn directions, infotainment. But for all the things we’re getting out of our connected vehicles, carmakers are getting much, much more: They’re constantly collecting data from our vehicles.
Today’s cars are equipped with telematics, in the form of an always-on wireless transmitter that constantly sends vehicle performance and maintenance data to the manufacturer. Modern cars collect as much as 25 gigabytes of data per hour, the consulting firm McKinsey estimates, and it’s about much more than performance and maintenance.
Cars not only know how much we weigh but also track how much weight we gain. They know how fast we drive, where we live, how many children we have – even financial information. Connect a phone to a car, and it knows who we call and who we text.
But who owns and, ultimately, controls that data? And what are carmakers doing with it?
The issue of ownership is murky. Drivers usually sign away their rights to data in a small-print clause buried in the ownership or lease agreement. It’s not unlike buying a smartphone. The difference is that most consumers have no idea vehicles collect data.
Click to continue reading Hanvey’s editorial printed in the New York Times.
