FTC bans General Motors from selling driving data without permission, adding to issues with CarPlay 2.

The US Trade Commission has taken action against General Motors and OnStar for allegedly selling location information and driving data to millions of GM owners without obtaining their consent. This data was collected as often as once every three seconds.

Both companies must ensure that they obtain proper consent from customers before selling location information and driving behavior data, and that they publish future sharing plans publicly.

"A general motor engineering company sold locations and driving data"

It has been discussed that General Motors and OnStar did not collect the location information and driving data of customers who selected the OnStar connected car service and the OnStar smart driver function.

Data such as hard braking, speeding, and even driving late at night was sold to consumer reporting agencies, which used this information to create profiles for insurance companies to raise premiums or deny coverage.

The dispute centers on whether vehicle buyers understand that this content is part of the contract. General Motors and OnStar say yes, but the FTC says no.

The US Federal Trade Commission has sued General Motors (GM) and OnStar for allegedly collecting, using, and selling accurate geographic location data and driving behavior information from millions of vehicles. These data can be used to set insurance premiums, so it is claimed that they were not sufficiently disclosed to consumers and sold without their consent.

The US International Trade Commission has accused General Motors, headquartered in Michigan, of misleading consumers through the process for joining the OnStar connected car service and the OnStar smart driver function. General Motors failed to clearly disclose that it collects accurate geographic location data and driving behavior data from consumers and sells them to third parties.

"5-year prohibition clause"

Data transactions are prohibited until clear consent is obtained from consumers, and then a clause will be used to ensure that future data sales are fully disclosed to consumers.

General Motors Leader Holdings Co., Ltd., General Motors Holdings Leader Co., Ltd., and General Motors Company, which own OnStar Leader Holdings Co., have been prohibited from publishing sensitive data containing personal geographic information and driver behavior data to consumer reporting agencies for five years in response to an order proposed by the FTC to resolve their claims. They must also take other steps to provide greater transparency and options to consumers regarding the collection, use, and publication of connected car data.

By agreeing to this proposal, General Motors and OnStar can resolve the issue without additional penalties.

Support for the introduction of CarPlay 2

In CarPlay 2, Apple plans to unify many data systems in vehicles. This includes entertainment systems as well as instruments like speedometers. However, despite two deadlines passing, no car manufacturer has released it yet.

One reason automakers are hesitant to transfer such control is because they collect data from their own systems. In CarPlay 2, they will no longer have access to this data and instead be protected by Apple's strong privacy standards.

This kind of action strengthens the reasons consumers might buy a car from companies that provide new CarPlay standards.

"Photo: Maxwell Motors"