USA: Automakers selling driver data for almost nothing

The senators called out General Motors, Hyundai & Honda for collecting driving data of customer vehicles.

According to a media report, two US state senators have sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), calling out three automakers for collecting driver data and selling them to insurance companies for close to nothing.

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and Senator Edward J Markey of Massachusetts called out General Motors, Hyundai & Honda for collecting driving data of customer vehicles. The letter goes on to mention how the data collected (which includes information like how fast a driver accelerated, how hard they braked and how often they went over the speed limit) was then sold to insurance companies.

Oregon Senator also was reportedly surprised at how little money automakers made from selling the driver data. As per the letter to the FTC, Honda sold 4-years of data from 97,000 cars for just $25,920 - working out to just 26 cents per car. Hyundai sold 6-years of data for $1 million - with the per car amount being just 61 cents. Sources claimed that General Motors sold data of 8 million cars in the "low millions of dollars".

Reports state that while Hyundai collected data from any vehicle connected to the internet, GM and Honda did give drivers a choice to opt-in for data collection. However, the senators claim it was deceptive.

Source: NYTimes