Automakers should get clear and explicit consent before collecting consumer data and should also carefully consider cybersecurity issues, according to consulting firm AutoMobility Advisors.
Its leadership represents an increasingly vocal industry voice — stakeholders who argue that consumer privacy is not only ethically correct, but critical to the financial success of connected-car businesses.
The advice was part of an Aug. 22 presentation on the company’s rules for collecting and using connected vehicle data. It said automakers often take the wrong approach to consumer data — burying disclosures among pages of legalese, collecting data without considering use cases, and failing to create direct channels for sharing data.
“It certainly carries risk in providing the customer with more detail and more transparency about how their data is being shared,” said Chip Getzinger, chief solutions officer at AutoMobility Advisors. “Then it’s important to ensure that you’re providing the customer with value for what you’re doing.”
Other industry groups, such as Privacy4Cars, emphasize that consumer privacy is an opportunity for automakers to differentiate themselves. Automakers should look at how Volvo identifies with security, the group says. The automaker could — but hasn’t yet — become a privacy brand.
Dan Teeter, director of consulting at AutoMobility Advisors, believes that by not prioritizing privacy, “you're going to lose in the public relations department.”
Privacy has become a thorn in the side of automakers trying to profit from consumer data. In July, two U.S. senators asked the Federal Trade Commission to look into allegations that automakers were sharing data without customers’ permission.
Also that month, California’s Privacy Protection Agency said it would review data privacy practices for connected vehicles. In April, U.S. senators raised concerns with the FTC about law enforcement access to vehicle location data, and in June, the Texas attorney general announced plans to investigate automakers’ data collection practices.
Meanwhile, consumers have repeatedly said they believe they should have control over their vehicle data.
The AutoMobility Advisors presentation included a number of rules for collecting and using data, including: complying with the law, assessing ethical issues, using data in the interests of customers, collecting only necessary data, ensuring clear customer consent, and monitoring data security.
Automakers are keen to avoid the kind of PR kerfuffle that General Motors got into earlier this year. Customers were outraged to learn that their data was being shared without their consent, leading insurance companies to raise rates based on the telemetry data.
At the same time, manufacturers are faced with the need to generate revenue now that vehicles are becoming connected. After years of expensive R&D and the race to connect, revenues are in the single digits, a far cry from the $200 billion forecast for 2030.