Hrocks

This was touched on very lightly sometime last year in CL. Some new disturbing information has recently emerged in national publications. I remember back in the 70's (Yes, I've got quite a few miles on the odometer!) "Big Brother" was something that was talked about, but with the exception of some sci-fi movies, was not taken very seriously. As we all now know, Google, FB, et al, know exactly who, where, and a LOT more about us with one click on the keyboard.

Now, our "connected" cars are not only spying on us, but the manufacturers have a new revenue stream selling our data to among others, insurance companies. Below are a couple of sobering articles that detail some of the data points they are sharing/selling. I've got to believe that some big law firm will launch a class action suit for the invasion of privacy. I have opted out of all connected services and convenience programs in all of my vehicles. I may be kidding myself, but at least I'm going to attempt to maintain some semblance of privacy in what I do, and how I drive my vehicles.
Your 'Connected' Car May Be Sharing Data about Your Driving (caranddriver.com)
Automakers Are Sharing Consumers’ Driving Behavior With Insurance Companies – DNyuz

mmarshall

Spy away......I couldn't care less. I have nothing to hide. Never did.....probably never will.

In fact, black-box data in vehicles that record the vehicle's motions before an accident have proven very useful in court-cases where drivers have tried to lie under oath about what happened.

Hrocks

If you take the time to actually read the articles on the attached links, you may change your tune. And yes, I think we're all very aware of the black box data being used in court cases.

By the way, is that glib and arrogant response a cut/paste from a previous post?

Allen K

iTrader: (4)

Agreed, there is the black box use case where it's used as a one-time event to prove or disprove something then there is this where LexisNexis is selling the data to insurance companies so they can jack up your rates even if you have a clean record. If someone opts in like with the DriveWise functionality with Allstate that's one thing, but constant sharing info outside of a mutually agreed upon system is a slippery slope.

jrmckinley

That is concerning; I wonder what the fine print included about sharing data to organizations that could end up sharing with insurance companies... I smell a lawsuit coming.

Margate330

I hope so.
It's invasion of privacy.

I'm not doing anything wrong but I still have curtains on my windows.

Lexicon1

For those who have NOT engaged the software in the Lexus or even put in what language it is prompting me, what can be done to "select" that you want out of 100% of any of the software's monitoring systems?
For those who have not taken possession of their vehicle yet, this could be very helpful
Also, how can existing users opt out of the monitoring software which stores personal info?

Hrocks

One of the cases noted that when one owner challenged a 21% increase on his insurance premium, he was presented a 258 page “consumer disclosure report” from LexisNexis that included 130 pages of driving data on each of the 640 trips his wife and he had taken over a six month period. The egregious offenses called out TWO “rapid accelerations” and TWO “incidents of hard braking” in his Chevy BOLT, of all cars!

Lexus Enform and your connected service features are absolutely collecting every detail, of every use of your vehicle. I have unsubscribed to all that I could, and called my dealer to make sure there is nothing else being recorded in real time.

geko29

What's even odder is the only two instances of "rapid acceleration" and the only two instances of "hard braking" occurred on the same short trip. Out of 640 trips total. So something was very different about that. Maybe it was an emergency situation. Or maybe their car was in for service that day...

Whether that's actually what happened in this specific case or not, the potential is clearly there. So you consent to giving a dealer porter the ability to raise your insurance rates by hundreds of dollars per year? Awful generous of you.

link13

Bingo. You said it and I am with you.

Striker223

I mean if that's what they class as "hard" acceleration/braking/turning then I would probably send a real time alert in my cars lol!

Good thing none of my stuff has that nor will I ever buy a car with those intrusions

Margate330

Yep, your car would be terminated faaaast. Haha

No more fun for you @Striker223 !

//
It is kinda creepy collecting data on unsuspecting people, borderline creepy stalker perv behavior. Haha

mmarshall

Apples and Oranges. Insurance goes up regardless of what kind of equipment they put in vehicles.The last several years have proved that.

tex2670

But the point it is can go up even more if your insurance company receives data that they interpret as the insured not driving in a safe manner. I would not be so quick to dismiss this - none of us has any idea how any insurance company interprets -- or misinterprets -- that data, no matter how safe each of us feels our driving habits are. If your insurance company says you are driving in an unsafe manner, you can't get them to change their determination.

Hrocks

Striker, if you still own your Audi's with "Driver Assist", my strong suspicion is that Big Bro is watching.