In a day and age when cars pass along more and more information, the paranoia that it would somehow get into the wrong hands seems to be at an all-time high.
That’s why it’s not too surprising that 19 automakers accounting for most of the passenger cars and trucks sold in North America have signed onto a set of principles they believe will protect the motorists’ privacy.
Certain technologies arguably do start to seem rather invasive. For example, most vehicles produced today come with infotainment systems that can link to your mobile devices, while navigation systems can easily track where you are travelling at any given time. General Motors and probably plenty of other automakers are also working on implementing eye-tracking technology that monitors what the driver is looking at.
The principles were delivered in a letter on Wednesday to the Federal Trade Commission, which has the authority to force corporations to live up to their promises to consumers. The letter outlined that the automakers want to assure their customers that the information their vehicles stream back to them or that is downloaded from the vehicles’ computers won’t be handed over to authorities without a court order, sold to insurance companies or used to bombard them with ads for pizza parlours, gas stations or other businesses they drive past, without their permission.
The principles also commit the automakers to “implement reasonable measures” to protect the motorists’ private information from any unauthorized access.
The letter outlines that automakers may have the opportunity to make deals with advertisers to target motorists based on their location and personal data, but only with the permission of the customer.
Automaker’s signing onto the principles are: Aston Martin, BMW, Chrysler, Ferrari, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Subaru, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.