May 22, 2019—Bill Hanvey, president and chief executive officer of the Auto Care Association, recently shared an op-ed piece on how cars know when owners gain weight and the countless data points that modern vehicles collect, according to The New York Times.
According to Bill Hanvey: 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.
The issue of data ownership is murky. Debates around privacy often focus on companies like Facebook. But today’s connected cars — and tomorrow’s autonomous vehicles — show how the commercial opportunities in collecting personal data are limitless, Hanvey noted.
To read the full article as it appeared in The New York Times, click here.
